9', 


THESPY 
INBLACK 

'  J^Sm)RER 
CLOUSTON  1 


1/ 


THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 
J.  STORER  CLOUSTON 


THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 


BY 

J.  STORER  CLOUSTON 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  LUNATIC  AT  LARGE."  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIffHT,   1918. 
BY  GEORGE  H.  DOEAN  COMPANY 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


X 


CONTENTS 

PART  I.:     THE  NARRATIVE  OF  LIEUTEN- 
ANT   VON    BELKE    (OF    THE 
GERMAN  NAVY) 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     The  Landing 9 

II.  Night  in  the  Ruined  House  ....  ^1 

III.  Behind  the  W^all 31 

IV.  The  Nails 45 

V.     VS^aiting 56 

PART  II.:     A  FEW  CHAPTERS  BY 
THE  EDITOR 

I.  The  Pleasant  Stranger 63 

11.  The  Chauffeur 73 

III.  On  the  ClifF 84 

IV.  Mr.  Drummond's  Visitor       ....  91 
V.  On  the  Mail  Boat 102 

VI.     The  Vanishing  Governess       .      .      .      .115 

PART  HI.:     LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE'S 
NARRATIVE  RESUMED 

I.     The  Meeting 129 

II.     Tiel's  Story 139 

V 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

III.     The  Plan .    150 

IV.  What  Happened  on  Sunday  .      .      .      .162 

V.  A  Mysterious  Adventure        ....    ITl 

VI.     The  Visitor 179 

VII.     At  Night 19a 

VIII.     The  Decision 202 

IX.     On  the  Shore 211 

PART  IV.:     LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE'S 
NARRATIVE  CONCLUDED 

I.  Wednesday 223 

II.  Thursday 233 

III.  Thursday  Night 2^0 

IV.  Friday 260 

PART  v.:     A  FEW  CONCLUDING  CHAP- 
TERS BY  THE  EDITOR 

I.     Tiel's  Journey 275 

IL     The  Lady 285 

III.     The  Empty  Envelope 295 


PART  I 

THE  NARRATIVE  OF 
LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE 

(of  the  GERMAN   NAVY) 


PART  I 

THE  NARRATIVE  OF 
LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE 


THE   LANDING 

IF  any  one  had  been  watching  the  bay  that 
August  night  (which,  fortunately  for  us, 
there  was  not),  they  would  have  seen  up  till 
an  hour  after  midnight  as  lonely  and  peaceful 
a  scene  as  if  it  had  been  some  inlet  in  Green- 
land. The  war  might  have  been  waging  on 
another  planet.  The  segment  of  a  waning 
moon  was  just  rising,  but  the  sky  was  covered 
with  clouds,  except  right  overhead  where  a 
bevy  of  stars  twinkled,  and  it  was  a  dim  though 
not  a  dark  night.  The  sea  was  as  flat  and  calm 
as  you  can  ever  get  on  an  Atlantic  coast — a 
glassy  surface,  but  always  a  gentle  regular 
bursting  of  foam  upon  the  beach.  In  a  semi- 
circle the  shore  rose  black,  towering  at  either 

9 


10  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

horn  (and  especially  on  the  south)  into  high 
dark  cliffs. 

I  suppose  a  bird  or  two  may  have  been  cry- 
ing then  as  they  were  a  little  later,  but  there 
was  not  a  light  nor  a  sign  of  anything  human 
being  within  a  hundred  miles.  If  one  of  the 
Vikings  who  used  to  live  in  those  islands  had 
revisited  that  particular  glimpse  of  the  moon, 
he  could  never  have  guessed  that  his  old  haunts 
had  altered  a  tittle.  But  if  he  had  waited  a 
while  he  would  have  rubbed  his  eyes  and  won- 
dered. Right  between  the  headlands  he  would 
have  seen  it  dimly : — a  great  thing  that  was  not 
a  fish  rising  out  of  the  calm  water,  and  then 
very  stealthily  creeping  in  and  in  towards  the 
southern  shore. 

When  we  were  fairly  on  the  surface  I  came 
on  deck  and  gazed  over  the  dark  waters  to  the 
darker  shore,  with — I  don't  mind  confessing  it 
now — a  rather  curious  sensation.  To  tell  the 
truth,  I  was  a  little  nervous,  but  I  think  I 
showed  no  sign  of  it  to  Wiedermann. 

"You  have  thought  of  everything  you  can 
possibly  need?"  he  asked  in  a  low  voice. 

"Everji;hing,  sir,  I  think,"  I  answered  con- 
fidently. 


THE  LANDING  11 

"No  need  to  give  you  tips!"  he  said  with  a 
laugh. 

I  felt  flattered — but  still  my  heart  was  beat- 
ing just  a  httle  faster  than  usual! 

In  we  crept  closer  and  closer,  with  the  gen- 
tlest pulsation  of  our  engines  that  could  not 
have  been  heard  above  the  lapping  of  the  waves 
on  the  pebbles.  An  invisible  gull  or  two 
wheeled  and  cried  above  us,  but  otherwise  there 
was  an  almost  too  perfect  stillness.  I  could 
not  help  an  uncomfortable  suspicion  that  some- 
one was  watching.  Someone  would  soon  be 
giving  the  alarm,  someone  would  presently  be 
playing  the  devil  with  my  schemes.  It  was 
sheer  nonsense,  but  then  I  had  never  played 
the  spy  before — at  least,  not  in  war-time. 

Along  the  middle  of  the  bay  ran  a  beach  of 
sand  and  pebbles,  with  dunes  and  grass  links 
above,  but  at  the  southern  end  the  water  was 
deep  close  inshore,  and  there  were  several  con- 
venient ledges  of  rock  between  the  end  of  this 
beach  and  the  beginning  of  the  cliffs.  The 
submarine  came  in  as  close  as  she  dared,  and 
then,  without  an  instant's  delay,  the  boat  was 
launched.  Wiedermann,  myself,  two  sailors, 
and  the  motor-bicycle  just  managed  to  squeeze 


12  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

in,  and  we  cautiously  pulled  for  the  ledges. 

The  tide  was  just  right  (we  had  thought  of 
everything,  I  must  say  that),  and  after  a  min- 
ute or  two's  groping  along  the  rocks,  we 
found  a  capital  landing.  Wiedermann  and  I 
jumped  ashore  as  easily  as  if  it  had  been  a  quay, 
and  my  bicycle  should  have  been  landed  with- 
out a  hitch.  How  it  happened  I  know  not,  but 
just  as  the  sailors  were  lifting  it  out,  the  boat 
swayed  a  little  and  one  of  the  clumsy  fellows 
let  his  end  of  it  slip.  A  splash  of  spray  broke 
over  it;  a  mere  nothing,  it  seemed  at  the  time, 
and  then  I  had  hold  of  it  and  we  lifted  it  on  to 
the  ledge. 

Wiedermann  spoke  sharply  to  the  man,  but  I 
assured  him  no  harm  had  been  done,  and  be- 
tween us  we  wheeled  the  thing  over  the  flat 
rocks,  and  pulled  it  up  to  the  top  of  the  grass 
bank  beyond. 

"I  can  manage  all  right  by  myself  now," 
I  said.     "Good-bye,  sir!" 

He  gave  my  hand  a  hard  clasp. 

"This  is  Thursday  night,"  he  said.  "We 
shall  be  back  on  Sunday,  Monday,  and  Tues- 
day nights,  remember." 


THE  LANDING  13 

"The  British  Navy  and  the  weather  permit- 
ting!" I  laughed. 

"Do  not  fear!"  said  he.  "I  shall  be  here, 
and  we  shall  get  you  aboard  somehow.  Come 
any  one  of  those  nights  that  suits  him/' 

"That  suits  him?"  I  laughed.  "Say  rather 
that  suits  Providence!" 

"Well,"  he  repeated,  "I'll  be  here  anyhow. 
Good  luck!" 

We  saluted,  and  I  started  on  my  way,  wheel- 
ing my  bicycle  over  the  gi'ass.  I  confess,  how- 
ever, that  I  had  not  gone  many  yards  before  I 
stopped  and  looked  back.  Wiedermann  had 
disappeared  from  the  top  of  the  bank,  and  in  a 
moment  I  heard  the  faint  sounds  of  the  boat 
rowing  back.  Very  dimly  against  the  grey 
sea  I  could  just  pick  out  the  conning  tower  and 
low  sides  of  the  submarine.  The  gulls  were 
still  crying,  but  in  a  more  sombre  key,  I 
fancied. 

So  here  was  I,  Conrad  von  Belke,  lieutenant 
in  the  German  Navy,  treading  British  turf  un- 
derfoot, cut  off  from  any  hope  of  escape  for 
three  full  days  at  least!  And  it  was  not 
ordinary  British  turf  either.     I  was  on  the 


14.  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

holy  of  holies,  actually  landed  on  those  sacred, 
jealously-guarded  islands  (which,  I  presume, 
I  must  not  even  name  here) ,  where  the  Grand 
Fleet  had  its  lair.  As  to  the  mere  act  of  land- 
ing, well,  you  have  just  seen  that  there  was  no 
insuperable  difficulty  in  stepping  ashore  from 
a  submarine  at  certain  places,  if  the  conditions 
were  favourable  and  the  moment  cunningly 
chosen;  but  I  proposed  to  penetrate  to  the 
innermost  sanctuary,  and  spend  at  least  three 
days  there — a  very  different  proposition ! 

I  had  been  chosen  for  this  service  for  three 
reasons:  because  I  was  supposed  to  be  a  cool 
hand  in  what  the  English  call  a  "tight  place" ; 
because  I  could  talk  English  not  merely  flu- 
ently, but  with  the  real  accent  and  intonation 
— like  a  native,  in  fact;  and  I  believe  because 
they  thought  me  not  quite  a  fool.  As  you  shall 
hear,  there  was  to  be  one  much  wiser  than  I  to 
guide  me.  He  was  indeed  the  brain  of  this 
desperate  enterprise,  and  I  but  his  messenger 
and  assistant.  Still,  one  wants  a  messenger 
with  certain  qualities,  and  as  it  is  the  chief 
object  of  this  narrative  to  clear  my  honour  in 
the  eyes  of  those  who  sent  me,  I  wish  to  point 
out  that  they  deliberately  chose  me  for  this  job 


THE  LANDING  15 

— I  did  not  select  myself — and  that  I  did  my 
best. 

It  was  my  own  idea  to  take  a  motor- 
bicycle,  but  it  was  an  idea  cordially  approved 
by  those  above  me.  There  were  several  ob- 
vious advantages.  A  motor-cyclist  is  not  an 
uncommon  object  on  the  roads  even  of  those 
out-of-the-way  islands,  so  that  my  mere  ap- 
pearance would  attract  no  suspicion;  and  be- 
sides, they  would  scarcely  expect  a  visitor  of 
my  sort  to  come  ashore  equipped  with  such  an 
article.  Also,  I  would  cover  the  ground 
quickly,  and,  if  it  came  to  the  worst,  might  have 
a  chance  of  evading  pursuit.  But  there  was 
one  reason  which  particularly  appealed  to  me : 
I  could  wear  my  naval  uniform  underneath  a 
suit  of  cyclist's  overalls,  and  so  if  I  were  caught 
might  make  a  strong  plea  to  escape  the  fate  of 
a  spy ;  in  fact,  I  told  myself  I  was  not  a  spy, — 
simply  a  venturesome  scout.  "Whether  the 
British  would  take  the  same  view  of  me  was 
another  question!  Still,  the  motor-cycle  did 
give  me  a  chance. 

My  first  task  was  to  cover  the  better  part  of 
twenty  miles  before  daybreak  and  join  forces 
with  "him"  in  the  very  innermost  shrine  of  this 


16  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

sanctuary — or  rather,  on  the  shore  of  it.  This 
seemed  a  simple  enough  job;  I  had  plenty  of 
time,  the  roads,  I  knew,  were  good,  nobody 
would  be  stirring  (or  anyhow,  ought  to  be)  at 
that  hour,  and  the  arrangements  for  my  safe 
reception  were,  as  you  shall  hear,  remarkably 
ingenious.  If  I  once  struck  the  hard  main 
road,  I  really  saw  nothing  that  could  stop  me. 

The  first  thing  was  to  strike  this  road.  Of 
course  I  knew  the  map  by  heart,  and  had  a  copy 
in  my  pocket  as  a  precaution  that  was  almost 
superfluous,  but  working  by  map-memory  in 
the  dark  is  not  so  easy  when  one  is  going  across 
country. 

The  grassy  bank  fell  gently  before  me  as  the 
land  sloped  down  from  the  cliffs  to  the  beach, 
and  I  knew  that  within  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards  I  should  find  a  rough  road  which  fol- 
lowed the  shore  for  a  short  way,  and  then  when 
it  reached  the  links  above  the  beach,  turned  at 
right  angles  across  them  to  join  the  highroad. 
Accordingly  I  bumped  my  motor-cycle  pa- 
tiently over  the  rough  grass,  keeping  close  to 
the  edge  of  the  bank  so  as  to  guide  myself,  and 
every  now  and  then  making  a  detour  of  a  few 
yards  inland  to  see  whether  the  road  had  begun. 


THE  LANDING  17 

The  minutes  passed,  the  ground  kept  faUing 
till  I  was  but  a  little  above  the  level  of  the 
glimmering  sea,  the  road  ought  to  have  begun 
to  keep  me  company  long  ago,  but  never  a  sign 
of  it  could  I  find.  Twice  in  my  detours  I 
stumbled  into  what  seemed  sand-holes,  and 
turned  back  out  of  them  sharply.  And  then  at 
last  I  realised  that  I  had  ceased  to  descend  for 
the  last  hundred  yards  or  more,  and  in  fact 
must  be  on  the  broad  stretch  of  undulating  sea 
links  that  fringed  the  head  of  the  bay.  But 
where  was  my  road? 

I  stopped,  bade  myself  keep  quite  cool  and 
composed,  and  peered  round  me  into  the  night. 
The  moon  was  farther  up  and  it  had  become  a 
little  hghter,  but  the  clouds  still  obscured  most 
of  the  sky  and  it  was  not  light  enough  to  see 
much.  Overhead  were  the  stars ;  on  one  hand 
the  pale  sea  merged  into  the  dark  horizon;  all 
around  me  were  low  black  hummocks  that  seem 
to  fade  into  an  infinity  of  shadows.  The  gulls 
still  cried  mournfully,  and  a  strong  pungent 
odour  of  seaweed  filled  the  night  air.  I  re- 
member that  pause  very  vividly. 

I  should  have  been  reckless  enough  to  light  a 
cigarette  had  I  not  feared  that  our  submarine 


18  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

might  still  be  on  the  surface,  and  Wiedermann 
might  see  the  flash  and  dub  me  an  idiot.  I  cer- 
tainly needed  a  smoke  very  badly  and  took 
some  credit  to  myself  for  refraining  (though 
perhaps  I  ought  really  have  given  it  to  Wieder- 
mann) .  And  then  I  decided  to  turn  back, 
slanting,  however,  a  little  away  from  the  sea 
so  as  to  try  and  cut  across  the  road.  A  minute 
or  two  later  I  tumbled  into  a  small  chasm  and 
came  down  with  the  bicycle  on  top  of  me.  I 
had  found  my  road. 

The  fact  was  that  the  thing,  though  marked 
on  the  large-scale  map  as  a  road  of  the  third, 
fourth,  or  tenth  quality  (I  forget  which),  was 
actually  nothing  more  or  less  than  three  par- 
allel crevasses  in  the  turf  filled  with  loose  sand. 
It  was  into  these  crevasses  that  I  had  twice 
stumbled  already. 

Now  with  my  back  to  the  sea  and  keeping  a 
yard  or  two  away  from  this  wretched  track, 
but  with  its  white  sand  to  guide  me,  I  pushed 
my  motor-cycle  laboriously  over  the  rough  turf 
for  what  seemed  the  better  part  of  half  an 
hour.  In  reality  I  suppose  it  was  under  ten 
minutes,  but  with  the  night  passing  and  that 
long  ride  before  me,  I  never  want  a  more 


THE  LANDING  19 

patience-testing  job.  And  then  suddenly  the 
white  sand  ceased.  I  stepped  across  to  see 
what  was  the  matter,  and  found  myself  on  a 
hard  highroad.  It  was  a  branch  of  the  main 
road  that  led  towards  the  shore,  and  for  the 
moment  I  had  quite  forgotten  its  existence.  I 
could  have  shouted  for  joy. 

"Now,"  I  said  to  myself,  "I'm  off!" 
And  off  I  went,  phut-phut-phutting  through 
the  cool  night  air,  with  a  heart  extraordinarily 
lightened.  That  little  bit  of  trouble  at  the 
start  had  made  the  rest  of  the  whole  wild  enter- 
prise seem  quite  simple  now  that  it  was  safely 
over. 

I  reached  the  end  of  this  branch,  swung 
round  to  the  right  into  the  highroad  proper  and 
buzzed  along  like  a  tornado.  The  sea  by  this 
time  had  vanished,  but  I  saw  the  glimmer  of  a 
loch  on  my  left,  and  close  at  hand  low  walls  and 
dim  vistas  of  cultivated  fields.  A  dark  low 
building  whizzed  by,  and  then  a  gaunt  eerie- 
looking  standing  stone,  and  then  came  a  dip 
and  beyond  it  a  httle  rise  in  the  ground.  As  I 
took  this  rise  there  suddenly  came  upon  me  a 
terrible  sinking  of  the  heart.  Phut-phut !  went 
my  cycle,  loudly  and  emphatically,  and  then 


20  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

came  a  horrible  pause.  Phut !  once  more ;  then 
two  or  three  feeble  explosions,  and  then  silence. 
My  way  stopped;  I  threw  over  my  leg  and 
landed  on  the  road. 

"What  the  devil!'*  I  muttered. 

I  had  cleaned  the  thing,  oiled  it,  seen  that 
everything  was  in  order;  what  in  heaven's  name 
could  be  the  matter?  And  then  with  a  dread- 
ful sensation  I  remembered  that  wave  of  salt 
water. 


II 

NIGHT  IN  THE  RUINED   HOUSE 

YOU  may  smile  to  think  of  a  sailor  being 
dismayed  by  a  splash  of  salt  water;  but 
not  if  you  are  a  motor-cyclist!  Several  very 
diabolical  consequences  may  ensue. 

In  the  middle  of  that  empty  road,  in  that 
alien  land,  under  the  hostile  stars,  I  took  my 
electric  torch  and  endeavoured  to  discover 
what  was  the  matter.  From  the  moment  I 
remembered  the  probable  salt,  wet  cause  of  my 
mishap  I  had  a  pretty  hopeless  feeling.  At 
the  end  of  ten  minutes  I  felt  not  merely  quite 
hopeless,  but  utterly  helpless.  Helpless  as  a 
child  before  a  charging  elephant,  hopeless  as  a 
man  at  the  bottom  of  an  Alpine  crevasse.  Ig- 
nition, carburettor,  what  had  been  damaged? 
In  good  daylight  it  might  take  me  an  hour  or 
two  first  to  discover  and  then  to  mend.  By  the 
radiance  of  my  torch  I  would  probably  spend 
a  night  or  two,  and  be  none  the  wiser. 

21 


22  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

And  meantime  the  precious  dark  hours  were 
slipping  away,  and  scattered  all  over  the  miles 
of  country  lay  foemen  sleeping — nothing  but 
foes.  I  was  in  a  sea-girt  isle  with  but  one 
solitary  friend,  and  he  was  nearly  twenty  miles 
away,  and  I  had  the  strictest  orders  not  to  ap- 
proach him  save  under  the  cover  of  darkness. 
Enough  cause  for  a  few  pretty  black  moments, 
I  think  you  will  allow. 

And  then  I  took  myself  by  the  scruff  of  the 
neck  and  gave  myself  a  hearty  shake.  Had  I 
been  picked  for  this  errand  because  I  was  a 
coward  or  a  resourceless  fool?  No!  Well, 
then,  I  must  keep  my  head  and  use  my  wits, 
and  if  I  could  not  achieve  the  best  thing,  I  must 
try  to  do  the  second  best.  I  ran  over  all  the 
factors  in  the  problem. 

Firstly,  to  wait  in  the  middle  of  that  road 
trying  to  accomplish  a  job  which  I  knew  per- 
fectly well  it  was  a  thousand  chances  to  one 
against  my  managing,  was  sheer  perverse 
folly. 

Secondly,  to  leave  my  cycle  in  a  ditch  and 
trj'-  to  cover  the  distance  on  my  own  two  legs 
before  daybreak  was  a  physical  impossibility. 
]My  cycle  being  one  of  the  modern  kind  with 


NIGHT  IN  THE  RUINED  HOUSE       23 

no  pedals  I  could  not  even  essay  the  dreadful 
task  of  grinding  it  along  with  my  feet. 
Therefore  I  could  not  reach  my  haven  to-night 
by  any  conceivable  means. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  would  still  be  expected 
to-morrow  night,  for  our  plans  were  laid  to 
allow  something  for  mischances;  so  if  I  could 
conceal  myself  and  my  cycle  through  the  com- 
ing day,  all  might  yet  be  well.  Therefore  I 
must  devise  some  plan  for  concealing  myself. 

Logic  had  brought  me  beautifully  so  far,  but 
now  came  the  rub — Where  was  I  to  hide? 
These  islands,  you  may  or  may  not  know,  are 
to  all  practical  purposes  treeless  and  hedgeless. 
They  have  many  moors  and  waste  places,  but 
of  an  abominable  kind  for  a  fugitive — espe- 
cially a  fugitive  with  a  motor-cycle.  The 
slopes  are  long  and  usually  gentle  and  quite 
exposed ;  ravines  and  dells  are  few  and  far  be- 
tween and  farther  still  to  reach.  Caves  and 
clefts  among  the  rocks  might  be  found  no 
doubt,  but  I  should  probably  break  my  neck 
looking  for  them  in  the  dark.  Conceive  of  a 
man  with  a  motor-bicycle  looking  for  a  cave  by 
starlight ! 

And  then  a  heaven-sent  inspiration  visited 


24  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

me.  On  board  we  had  of  course  maps  with 
every  house  marked,  however  small,  and  who 
lived  in  it,  and  so  on.  We  do  things  thor- 
oughly, even  though  at  the  moment  there  may 
not  be  any  apparent  reason  for  some  of  the  de- 
tails. I  blessed  our  system  now,  for  suddenly 
in  my  mind's  eye  I  saw  a  certain  group  of  farm 
buildings  marked  "ruinous  and  uninhabited." 
And  now  where  the  devil  was  it? 

My  own  pocket  map  of  course  had  no  such 
minute  details  and  I  had  to  work  my  memory 
hard.  And  then  in  a  flash  I  saw  the  map  as 
distinctly  as  if  it  had  really  been  under  my  eye 
instead  of  safely  under  the  Atlantic. 

"I  have  a  chance  still,"  I  said  to  myself. 

By  the  light  of  my  torch  I  had  a  careful  look 
at  my  small  map,  and  then  I  set  forth  pushing 
my  lifeless  cycle.  To  get  to  my  refuge  I  had 
to  turn  back  and  retrace  my  steps  (or  perhaps 
I  should  rather  say  my  revolutions)  part  way 
to  the  shore  till  I  came  to  a  road  branching 
southwards,  roughly  parallel  to  the  coast.  It 
ascended  continuously  and  pretty  steeply,  and 
I  can  assure  you  it  was  stiff  work  pushing  a 
motor-cycle  up  that  interminable  hill,  espe- 
cially when  one  was  clad  for  warmth  and 


NIGHT  IN  THE  RUINED  HOUSE       25 

not  for  exercise.  Dimly  in  the  waxing  moon- 
light I  could  see  low  farm  buildings  here  and 
there,  but  luckily  not  a  light  shone  nor  a  dog 
barked  from  one  of  them.  Glancing  over  my 
shoulder  I  saw  the  sea,  now  quite  distinct  and 
with  a  faint  sheen  upon  its  surface,  widening 
and  widening  as  I  rose.  But  I  merely  glanced 
at  it  enviously  and  concentrated  my  attention 
on  the  task  of  finding  my  "ruinous  and  unin- 
habited" farm. 

I  twice  nearly  turned  off  the  road  too  soon, 
but  I  did  find  it  at  last — a  low  tumble-down 
group  of  little  buildings  some  two  hundred 
yards  or  so  off  the  road  on  the  right,  or  seaward 
side.  Here  the  cultivated  fields  stopped,  and 
beyond  them  the  road  ascended  through  barren 
moorland.  My  refuge  was,  in  fact,  the  very 
last  of  the  farms  as  one  went  up  the  hill.  It 
lay  pretty  isolated  from  the  others,  and  there 
was  a  track  leading  to  it  that  enabled  me  to 
push  my  cycle  along  fairly  comfortably. 

"I  might  have  come  to  a  much  worse  place!" 
I  said  to  myself  hopefully. 

Though  there  was  not  a  sign  of  life  about  the 
place,  and  not  a  sound  of  any  kind,  I  still  pro- 
ceeded warily  as  I  explored  the  derelict  farm. 


86  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

I  dared  not  even  use  my  torch  till  I  had  stooped 
through  an  open  door,  and  was  safely  within 
one  of  the  buildings.  When  I  flashed  it  round 
me  I  saw  then  that  I  stood  in  a  small  and  abso- 
lutely empty  room,  which  might  at  one  time 
have  been  anything  from  a  parlour  to  a  byre, 
but  now  seemed  consecrated  to  the  cultivation 
of  nettles.  It  had  part  of  a  roof  overhead,  and 
seemed  as  likely  to  suit  my  purpose  as  any  other 
of  the  dilapidated  group,  so  I  brought  my  cycle 
in,  flattened  a  square  yard  or  two  of  nettles, 
and  sat  down  on  the  floor  with  my  back  against 
the  wall.  And  then  I  lit  a  cigarette  and  med- 
itated. 

"My  young  friend,*'  I  said  to  myself,  "you 
are  in  an  awkward  position,  but,  remember,  you 
have  been  in  awkward  positions  before  when 
there  were  no  such  compensating  advan- 
tages! Let  us  consider  these  advantages  and 
grow  cheerful.  You  are  privileged  to  render 
your  country  such  a  service  as  few  single  Ger- 
mans have  been  able  to  render  her — if  this  plan 
succeeds !  If  it  fails,  your  sacrifice  will  not  be 
unknown  or  unappreciated.  Whatever  hap- 
pens, you  will  have  climbed  a  rung  or  two  up 
the  ladder  of  duty,  and  perhaps  of  fame.'* 


NIGHT  IX  THE  RUINED  HOUSE        27 

This  eloquence  pleased  my  young  friend  so 
much  that  he  lit  another  cigarette. 

"Consider  again,"  I  resumed,  "what  an  op- 
portunity you  have  been  unexpectedly  pre- 
sented with  for  exhibiting  your  resourcefulness 
and  your  coolness  and  your  nerve!  If  it  had 
not  been  for  that  wave  of  salt  water  your  task 
would  have  been  almost  too  simple.  Your 
own  share  of  the  enterprise  would  merely  have 
consisted  in  a  couple  of  easy  rides  on  a  motor- 
cycle, and  perhaps  the  giving  of  a  few  sugges- 
tions, or  the  making  of  a  few  objections,  which 
would  probably  have  been  brushed  aside  as 
worthless.  Now  you  have  really  something  to 
to  test  you!" 

This  oration  produced  a  less  exhilarating  ef- 
fect. In  fact,  it  set  me  to  wondering  very 
gravely  how  I  could  best  justify  this  implied 
tribute  to  my  powers  of  surmounting  difficul- 
ties. Till  the  day  broke  all  I  had  to  do  was  to 
sit  still,  but  after  that — what?  I  pondered  for 
a  few  minutes,  and  then  I  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  an  hour  or  two's  sleep  would  prob- 
ably freshen  my  wits.  I  knew  I  could  count 
on  waking  when  the  sun  rose,  and  so  I  closed 
my  eyes,  and  presently  was  fast  asleep. 


28  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

When  I  awoke,  it  was  broad  daylight. 
Looking  first  through  the  pane-less  window 
and  then  through  the  gap  in  the  roof  I  saw 
that  it  was  a  grey,  still  morning  that  held 
promise  of  a  fine  day,  though  whether  that  was 
to  my  advantage  or  disadvantage  I  did  not 
feel  quite  sure.  Nobody  seemed  to  be  stirring 
yet  about  the  houses  or  fields,  so  I  had  still 
time  for  deliberation  before  fate  forced  my 
hand. 

First  of  all,  I  had  a  look  round  my  imme- 
diate surroundings.  I  was  well  sheltered,  as 
all  the  walls  were  standing,  and  there  was 
most  of  a  roof  over  my  head  (the  last  being 
a  point  of  some  importance  in  case  any  air- 
craft chanced  to  make  a  flight  in  this  direction) . 
It  is  true  that  the  door  was  gone,  but  even  here 
I  seemed  fortunate,  for  another  small  building, 
also  dilapidated-looking  but  in  somewhat  bet- 
ter condition,  stood  right  opposite  the  open 
doorway  and  hid  it  completely.  This  little 
building  still  had  a  dishevelled  door  which  stood 
closed,  and  for  a  moment  I  half  thought  of 
changing  my  shelter  and  taking  possession  of 
it;  and  then  I  decided  that  where  fate  had 
directed  my  steps,  there  should  I  abide. 


NIGHT  IN  THE  RUINED  HOUSE       29 

The  next  thing  obviously  was  to  overhaul 
my  motor-cycle,  and  this  I  set  about  at  once, 
though  all  the  time  my  thoughts  kept  working. 
In  the  course  of  an  hour  or  so  I  had  located 
the  trouble  in  the  carburettor  and  put  it  right 
again,  and  I  had  also  begun  to  realise  a  few 
of  the  pros  and  cons  of  the  situation. 

I  now  ate  a  few  sandwiches,  had  a  pull  at 
my  flask,  lit  a  cigarette,  and  put  the  case  to 
myself  squarely. 

"With  a  motor-cycle,  the  whole  island  at 
my  disposal,  and  daylight  in  which  to  search 
it  through,  I  can  surely  find  a  hiding-place  a 
little  farther  removed  from  inquisitive  neigh- 
bours," I  said  to  myself.  "So  the  sooner  I 
am  off  the  better." 

But  then  I  answered  back — 

"On  the  other  hand  it  may  take  me  some 
hours  to  find  a  better  spot  than  this,  and  a 
man  tearing  about  the  country  on  a  motor- 
cycle is  decidedly  more  conspicuous  in  the  early 
morning  than  in  the  middle  of  the  day  or  the 
afternoon  when  cyclists  are  natural  objects. 

"But  again,  if  I  do  think  of  leaving  this 
place  I  certainly  ought  not  to  be  seen  in  the 
act  of  emerging  from  a  ruinous  house  push- 


30  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

ing  my  cycle — not,  at  least,  if  I  wish  to  be 
considered  a  normal  feature  of  the  landscape. 
I  have  a  chance  of  escaping  now  unobserved; 
shall  I  have  such  a  chance  later  in  the  day?" 

Finally  I  decided  to  compromise.  I  should 
stay  where  I  was  till  the  hour  when  all  the 
farmers  had  their  midday  meal.  Then  I 
might  well  hope  to  slip  out  unobserved,  and 
thereafter  scour  the  country  looking  for  the 
ideal  hiding-place  without  attracting  any 
particular  attention.  But  whatever  merits 
this  scheme  may  have  had  were  destined  never 
to  be  tested. 

From  my  seat  amid  the  nettles  I  could  see 
right  through  the  open  door,  and  my  eyes  all 
this  while  were  resting  on  the  glimpse  of  grey 
building  outside.  All  at  once  I  held  my 
breath,  and  the  hand  that  was  lifting  a  cigar- 
ette to  my  lips  grew  rigid.  A  thin  wisp  of 
smoke  was  rising  from  the  chimney. 


Ill 

BEHIND  THE  WALL 

**t?  UINOUS"  these  farm  buildings  cer- 
xV  tainly  were;  but  "uninhabited" — ob- 
viously not  quite !  I  rose  stealthily  and  crossed 
to  the  door,  and  just  as  I  reached  it  the  door 
of  the  other  house  began  to  open.  I  stepped 
back  and  peered  round  the  corner  for  quite 
a  minute  before  anything  more  happened. 
My  neighbour,  whoever  he  was,  seemed  uncon- 
scionably slow  in  his  movements. 

And  then  a  very  old,  bent,  and  withered 
woman  appeared,  with  a  grey  shawl  about 
her  head.  As  she  looked  slowly  round  her, 
first  to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other,  I  cau- 
tiously drew  back ;  but  even  as  I  did  so  I  knew 
it  was  too  late.  A  wisp  of  smoke  had  given 
us  both  away.  This  time  it  was  a  trail  from 
my  cigarette  which  I  could  see  quite  plainly 
drifting  through  the  open  door. 

I  heard  her  steps  coming  towards  me,  and 
then  her  shadow  filled  the  doorway.    There 

31 


32  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

was  nothing  for  it  but  taking  the  bull  by  the 
horns. 

"Good  morning!"  I  said  genially. 

She  did  not  start.  She  did  not  speak.  She 
just  stared  at  me  out  of  as  unpleasant -looking 
a  pair  of  old  eyes  as  I  have  ever  looked  into.  I 
suspected  at  once  why  the  old  crone  lived  here 
by  herself;  she  did  not  look  as  if  she  would  be 
popular  among  her  neighbours. 

"I  think  it  is  going  to  be  a  fine  day,"  I  con- 
tinued breezily. 

She  simply  continued  to  stare;  and  if  ever 
I  saw  suspicion  in  human  eyes,  I  saw  it  in  hers. 

"What  do  you  think  yourself?"  I  inquired 
with  a  smile.  "I  have  no  doubt  you  are  more 
weatherwise  than  I." 

Then  at  last  she  spoke,  and  I  thought  I  had 
never  heard  a  more  sinister  remark. 

"Maybe  it  will  be  a  fine  day  for  some,"  she 
replied. 

"I  hope  I  may  be  one  of  them!"  I  said  as 
cheerfully  as  possible. 

She  said  not  one  word  in  reply,  and  her  si- 
lence completed  the  ominous  innuendo. 

It  struck  me  that  a  word  of  explanation 
would  be  advisable. 


BEHIND  THE  WALL  S3 

"My  bicycle  broke  down,"  I  said,  "and  I 
took  the  liberty  of  bringing  it  in  here  to  re- 
pair it." 

Her  baleful  gaze  turned  upon  my  hapless 
motor-cycle. 

"What  for  did  you  have  to  mend  it  in  here?" 
she  inquired;  very  pertinently,  I  could  not  but 
admit. 

"It  was  the  most  convenient  place  I  could 
find,"  I  replied  carelessly. 

"To  keep  it  from  the  rain  maybe?"  she  sug- 
gested. 

"Well,"  I  admitted,  "a  roof  has  some  ad- 
vantages." 

"Then,"  said  she,  "you've  been  here  a  long 
while,  for  there's  been  no  rain  since  I  wakened 
up." 

"But  I  didn't  say  I  came  here  for  shelter," 
I  said  hastily. 

She  stared  at  me  again  for  a  few  mo- 
ments. 

"You're  saying  first  one  thing  and  then  the 
other,"  she  pronounced. 

I  felt  inchned  to  tell  her  that  she  had  missed 
her  vocation.  ^Vhat  a  terrible  specimen  of 
the  brow-beating,  cross-examining  lawyer  she 


34  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

would  have  made!  However,  I  decided  that 
my  safest  line  was  cheerful  politeness. 

"Have  it  your  own  way,  my  good  dame!" 
I  said  lightly. 

Her  evil  eyes  transfixed  me. 

"You'll  be  a  foreigner,"  she  said. 

"A  foreigner!"  I  exclaimed;  "why  on  earth 
should  you  think  that?" 

"You're  using  queer  words,"  she  replied. 

"What  words?"  I  demanded. 

"Dame  is  the  German  for  an  old  woman," 
said  she. 

This  astonishing  philological  discovery  might 
have  amused  me  at  another  time,  but  at  this 
moment  it  onty  showed  me  too  clearly  how  her 
thoughts  were  running. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "if  it's  German,  I  can  only 
say  it  is  the  first  word  of  that  beastly  language 
I've  ever  spoken !" 

Again  I  was  answered  by  a  very  ominous 
silence.  It  occurred  to  me  very  forcibly  that 
the  sooner  I  removed  myself  from  this  neigh- 
bourhood the  better. 

"Well,"  I  said,  "my  bicycle  is  mended  now, 
so  I  had  better  be  off." 

"You  had  that,"  she  agreed. 


BEHIND  THE  WALL  85 

"Good-bye!"  I  cried  as  I  led  my  cycle 
out,  but  she  never  spoke  a  syllable  in  re- 
ply- 

"Fate  has  not  lost  much  time  in  forcing  my 
hand!"  I  said  to  myself  as  I  pushed  my  motor- 
cycle along  the  track  towards  the  highroad.  I 
thought  it  wiser  not  to  look  round  but  just  be- 
fore I  reached  the  road  I  glanced  over  my  left 
shoulder  and  there  was  the  old  woman  cross- 
ing the  fields  at  a  much  brisker  pace  than  I 
should  have  given  her  credit  for  and  heading 
straight  for  the  nearest  farm.  My  hand  was 
being  forced  with  a  vengeance. 

Instinctively  I  should  liked  to  have  turned 
uphill  and  got  clear  of  this  district  immedi- 
ately, but  I  was  not  sure  how  my  cycle  would 
behave  itself,  and  dared  not  risk  a  stiff  ascent 
to  begin  with.  So  I  set  off  at  top  speed  down 
the  road  I  had  come  the  night  before,  passing 
the  old  crone  at  a  little  distance  off,  and  no- 
ticing more  than  one  labourer  in  the  fields  or 
woman  at  a  house  door,  staring  with  interest 
at  this  early  morning  rider.  When  the  news 
had  spread  of  where  he  had  come  from,  and 
with  what  language  he  interlarded  his  speech, 
they  might   do   something  more  than  stare. 


86  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

There  was  a  telegraph-office  not  at  all  far 
away. 

As  I  sped  down  that  hill  and  swung  round 
away  from  the  sea  at  the  foot,  I  did  a  heap 
of  quick  thinking.  As  things  had  turned  out 
I  dared  not  make  for  any  place  of  conceal- 
ment far  off  the  highroads.  Now  that  there 
was  a  probability  of  the  hue  and  cry  being 
raised,  or  at  least  of  a  look-out  being  kept  for 
me,  the  chances  of  successfull}^  slipping  up  the 
valley  of  some  burn  without  any  one's  notice 
were  enormously  decreased.  I  had  but  to 
glance  round  at  the  openness  of  the  country- 
side to  realise  that.  No;  on  the  highroads  I 
could  at  least  run  away,  but  up  in  the  moors 
I  should  be  a  mere  trapped  rat. 

Then  I  had  the  bright  thought  of  touring  in 
zigzag  fashion  round  and  round  the  island, 
stopping  every  here  and  there  to  address  an 
inhabitant  and  leave  a  false  clue,  so  as  to  con- 
fuse my  possible  pursuers.  But  what  about 
my  petrol?  I  might  need  every  drop  if  I  ac- 
tually did  come  to  be  chased.  So  I  gave  up 
that  scheme. 

Finally,  I  decided  upon  a  plan  which  really 
seems  to  me  now  to  be  as  promising  as  any 


BEHIND  THE  WALL  3T 

I  could  think  of.  About  the  least  likely  place 
to  look  for  me  would  be  a  few  miles  farther 
along  the  same  road  that  ran  past  my  last 
night's  refuge,  in  the  opposite  direction  from 
that  in  which  people  had  seen  me  start.  I  re- 
solved to  make  a  detour  and  then  work  back 
to  that  road. 

I  had  arrived  at  this  decision  by  the  time  I 
reached  the  scene  of  last  night's  mishap.  For- 
tunately my  cycle  was  running  like  a  deer  now, 
and  I  swept  up  the  little  slope  in  a  few  sec- 
onds and  sped  round  the  loch,  opening  up  fresh 
vistas  of  round-topped  heather  hills  and  wide 
green  or  brown  valleys  every  minute.  At  a 
lonely  bit  of  the  road  I  jumped  off,  studied  my 
map  afresh,  and  then  dashed  on  again. 

Presently  a  side  road  opened,  leading  back 
towards  the  coast,  and  round  the  corner  I  sped ; 
but  even  as  I  did  so  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
my  performance  struck  me  vividly — that  is  to 
say,  if  a  really  serious  and  organised  hunt  for 
me  were  to  be  set  afoot.  For  the  roadside  was 
dotted  with  houses,  often  at  considerable  in- 
tervals it  is  true,  but  then  all  of  them  had  such 
confoundedly  wide  views  over  that  open  coun- 
trj\     There  was  a  house  or  two  at  the  very  cor- 


38  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

ner  where  I  turned,  and  I  distinctly  saw  a  face 
appearing  at  a  window  to  watch  me  thunder 
past.  The  noise  these  motor-cycles  make  is 
simply  infernal  I 

It  was  then  that  I  fell  into  the  true  spirit 
for  such  an  adventure.  Since  the  chances 
were  everywhere  against  me  //  my  enemies 
took  certain  steps,  well  then,  the  only  thing 
to  do  was  to  hope  they  did  not  take  them  and 
dismiss  that  matter  from  my  mind.  I  was 
taking  the  best  precautions  I  could  think  of, 
and  the  cooler  I  kept  and  better  spirits  I  was 
in,  the  more  likely  would  luck  be  to  follow  me. 
For  luck  is  a  discerning  lady  and  likes  those 
who  trust  her.  Accordingly,  the  sun  being 
now  out  and  the  morning  beautifully  fine,  I 
decided  to  enjoy  the  scenery  and  make  the 
most  of  a  day  ashore. 

My  first  step  was  to  ease  up  and  ride  just 
as  slowly  as  I  could,  and  then  I  saw  at  once 
that  I  was  doing  the  wisest  thing  in  every  way. 
I  made  less  noise  and  less  dust,  and  was  alto- 
gether much  less  of  a  phenomenon.  And  this 
encouraged  me  greatly  to  keep  to  my  new  reso- 
lution. 


BEHIND  THE  WALL  89 

"If  I  leave  it  all  to  luck,  she  will  advise  me 
well!"  I  said  to  myself. 

I  headed  coastwards  through  a  wide  marshy 
valley  with  but  few  houses  about,  and  in  a  short 
time  saw  the  sea  widening  before  me  and  pres- 
ently struck  the  road  I  was  seeking.  At  the 
junction  I  obeyed  an  impulse,  and,  jumping 
off  my  cycle,  paused  to  survey  the  scenery.  "  A 
fertile  vale  fell  from  where  I  stood,  down  to 
a  small  bay  between  headlands.  It  was  filled 
with  little  farms,  and  all  at  once  there  came 
over  me  an  extraordinary  impression  of  peace- 
fulness  and  rest.  Could  it  actually  be  that 
this  was  a  country  at  war;  that  naval  war,  in- 
deed, was  very  very  close  at  hand,  and  beneath 
those  shining  waters  a  submarine  might  even 
now  be  stealing  or  a  loose  mine  drifting?  The 
wide,  sunshiny,  placid  atmosphere  of  the  scene, 
with  its  vast  expanse  of  clear  blue  sky,  larks 
singing  high  up  and  sea-birds  crying  about  the 
shore,  soothed  my  spirits  like  a  magician's 
wand.  I  mounted  and  rode  on  again  in  an 
amazingly  pleasant  frame  of  mind  for  a  spy 
within  a  hair's-breadth  of  capture,  and  very 
probably  of  ignominious  death. 


40  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

Up  a  long  hill  my  engine  gently  throbbed, 
with  moorland  on  either  side  that  seemed  to 
be  so  desolated  by  the  gales  and  sea  spray 
that  even  heather  could  scarcely  flourish.  I 
meant  to  stop  and  rest  by  the  wayside,  but 
after  a  look  at  the  map  I  thought  on  the  whole 
I  had  better  put  another  mile  or  two  between 
me  and  the  lady  with  the  baleful  eyes.  At  the 
top  I  had  a  very  wide  prospect  of  inland  coun- 
try to  the  left,  a  treeless  northern-looking 
scene,  all  green  and  brown  with  many  lakes 
reflecting  the  sunshine.  A  more  hopeless  land 
to  hide  in  I  never  beheld,  and  I  was  confirmed 
in  my  reckless  resolution.  Chance  alone  must 
protect  me. 

Down  a  still  steeper  hill  I  rode,  only  now 
amid  numberless  small  farms  and  with  another 
bay  shining  ahead.  The  road  ran  nearly 
straight  into  the  water  and  then  bent  sud- 
denly and  followed  the  rim  of  the  bay,  with 
nothing  but  empty  sea-links  on  the  landward 
side.  The  farms  were  left  behind,  a  mansion- 
house  by  the  shore  was  still  a  little  distance 
ahead,  and  there  was  not  a  living  soul  in  sight 
as  I  came  to  a  small  stone-walled  enclosure 
squeezed  in  between  the  road  and  the  beach 


BEHIND  THE  WALL  41 

below.  I  jumped  off,  led  my  cycle  round  this 
and  laid  it  on  the  ground,  and  then  seated  my- 
self with  my  back  against  the  low  wall  of  loose 
stones  and  my  feet  almost  projecting  over  the 
edge  of  the  steep  slope  of  pebbles  that  fell 
down  to  the  sand. 

I  was  only  just  out  of  sight,  but  unless  any 
one  should  walk  along  the  beach,  out  of  sight 
I  certainly  was,  and  it  struck  me  forcibly  that 
ever  since  I  had  given  myself  up  to  luck,  every 
impulse  had  been  an  inspiration.  If  I  were 
conducting  the  search  for  myself,  would  I  ever 
dream  of  looking  for  the  mysterious  runaway 
behind  a  wall  three  feet  high  within  twenty 
paces  of  a  pubhc  road  and  absolutely  exposed 
to  a  wide  sweep  of  beach?  "No,"  I  told  my- 
self, "I  certainly  should  not!" 

There  I  sat  for  hour  after  hour  basking  in 
the  sunshine,  and  yet  despite  my  heavy  cloth- 
ing kept  at  a  bearable  temperature  by  gentle 
airs  of  cool  breeze  off  the  sea.  The  tide,  which 
was  pretty  high  when  I  arrived,  crept  slowly 
down  the  sands,  but  save  for  the  cruising  and 
running  of  gulls  and  little  piping  shore-birds, 
that  was  all  the  movement  on  the  beach.  Not 
a  soul  appeared  below  me  all  that  time.     The 


43  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

calm  shining  sea  remained  absolutely  empty 
except  once  for  quarter  of  an  hour  or  so  when 
a  destroyer  was  creeping  past  far  out.  To  the 
seaward  there  was  not  a  hint  of  danger  or  the 
least  cause  for  apprehension. 

On  the  road  behind  me  I  did  hear  sounds 
several  times,  which  I  confess  disturbed  my 
equanimity  much  more  than  I  meant  to  let 
them.  Once  a  motor-car  buzzed  past,  and  not 
to  hold  my  breath  as  the  sound  swelled  so  rap- 
idly and  formidably  was  more  than  I  could 
achieve.  The  jogging  of  a  horse  and  trap 
twice  set  me  wondering,  despite  myself, 
whether  there  were  a  couple  of  men  with  car- 
bines aboard.  But  the  slow  prolonged  rattling 
and  creaking  of  carts  was  perhaps  the  sound 
that  worried  me  most.  They  took  such  an  in- 
terminable time  to  pass!  I  conceived  a  very 
violent  distaste  for  carts. 

I  do  take  some  credit  to  myself  that  not 
once  did  I  yield  to  the  temptation  to  peep  over 
my  wall  and  see  who  it  was  that  passed  along 
the  road.  I  did  not  even  turn  and  try  to  peer 
through  the  chinks  in  the  stones,  but  simply 
sat  like  a  limpet  till  the  sounds  had  died  com- 
pletely away.     The  only  precaution  I  took  was 


BEHIND  THE  WALL  43 

to  extinguish  my  cigarette  if  I  chanced  at  the 
moment  to  be  smoking. 

In  the  course  of  my  long  bask  in  that  sun 
bath  I  ate  most  of  my  remaining  sandwiches 
and  a  cake  or  two  of  chocolate,  but  kept  the 
remainder  against  emergencies.  At  last  as  the 
sun  wore  round,  gradually  descending  till  it 
shone  right  into  my  eyes,  and  I  realised  that 
the  afternoon  was  getting  far  through,  hope 
began  to  rise  higher  and  higher.  It  actually 
seemed  as  if  I  were  going  to  be  allowed  to  re- 
main within  twenty  yards  of  a  highroad  till 
night  fell.  "And  then  let  them  look  for  me!'* 
I  thought. 

I  don't  think  my  access  of  optimism  caused 
me  to  make  any  incautious  movement.  I 
know  I  was  not  smoking,  in  fact  it  must  sim- 
ply have  been  luck  determined  to  show  me  that 
I  was  not  her  only  favourite.  Anyhow,  when 
I  first  heard  a  footstep  it  was  on  the  grass 
within  five  yards  of  me,  and  the  next  moment 
a  man  came  round  the  corner  of  the  wall  and 
stopped  dead  short  at  the  sight  of  me. 

He  was  a  countrjonan,  a  small  farmer  or 
hired  man,  I  should  judge — a  broad-faced,  red- 
bearded,  wide-shouldered,  pleasant-looking  fel- 


44.  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

low,  and  he  must  have  been  walking  for  some 
distance  on  the  grass  by  the  roadside,  though 
what  made  him  step  the  few  yards  out  of  his 
way  to  look  round  the  corner  of  the  wall,  I 
have  never  discovered  to  this  day.  Possibly 
he  meant  to  descend  to  the  beach  at  that  point. 
Anyhow  there  he  was,  and  as  we  looked  into 
one  another's  eyes  for  a  moment  in  silence  I 
could  tell  as  surely  as  if  he  had  said  the  words 
that  he  had  heard  the  story  of  the  suspicious 
motor-cyclist. 


IV 

THE   NAILS 

"   A    FINE  afternoon,"  I  remarked,  with- 

Jlm,  out  rising,  and  I  hope  without  show- 
ing any  sign  of  emotion  other  than  pleasure  at 
making  an  acquaintance. 

"Aye,"  said  he,  briefly  and  warily. 

This  discouraging  manner  was  very  ominous, 
for  the  man  was  as  good-natured  and  agree- 
able-looking a  fellow  as  I  ever  met. 

"The  weather  looks  like  keeping  up,"  I  said. 

He  continued  to  look  at  me  steadily,  and 
made  no  answer  at  all  this  time.  Then  he 
turned  his  back  to  me  very  deliberately,  lifted 
his  felt  hat,  and  waved  it  two  or  three  times 
round  his  head,  evidently  to  some  one  in  the 
distance.  I  saw  instantly  that  mischief  was 
afoot  and  time  precious,  yet  the  fellow  was 
evidently  determined  and  stout-hearted,  be- 
sides being  physically  very  powerful,  and  it 
would  never  do  to  rouse  his  suspicions  to  the 

45 


46  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

pitch  of  grappling  with  me.  Of  course  I 
might  use  my  revolver,  but  I  had  no  wish  to 
add  a  civihan's  death  to  the  other  charge  I 
might  have  to  face  before  that  sun  had  set. 
Suddenly  luck  served  me  well  again  by  putting 
into  my  head  a  well-known  English  cant 
phrase. 

"Are  you  often  taken  like  that?"  I  inquired 
with  a  smile. 

He  turned  round  again  and  stared  blankly. 
I  imitated  the  movement  of  waving  a  hat,  and 
laughed. 

"Or  is  it  a  family  custom?"  I  asked. 

He  was  utterly  taken  aback,  and  looked 
rather  foolish.  I  sat  still  and  continued  to 
smile  at  him.  And  then  he  broke  into  a  smile 
himself. 

"I  was  just  waving  on  a  friend,"  he  ex- 
plained, and  I  could  detect  a  note  of  apology 
in  his  voice.  For  the  moment  he  was  com- 
pletely hoodwinked.  How  long  it  would  last 
Heaven  knew,  but  I  clearly  could  not  afford 
to  imitate  Mr.  Asquith,  and  "wait  and  see." 

"Oh,"  I  said  with  a  laugh,  "I  see!" 

And  then  I  glanced  at  my  wristlet  watch, 
and  sprang  to  my  feet  with  an  exclamation. 


THE  NAILS  47 

"By  Jove,  I'll  be  late!"  I  said,  and  picking 
up  my  cycle  wheeled  it  briskly  to  the  road,  re- 
marking genially  as  I  went,  "the  days  are  not 
so  long  as  they  were!" 

I  never  saw  a  man  more  obviously  divided 
in  mind.  Was  I  the  suspicious  person  he  fan- 
cied at  first?  Or  was  I  an  honest  and  peace- 
able gentleman?  Meanwhile  I  had  cast  one 
brief  but  sufiicient  glance  along  the  road. 
Just  at  the  foot  of  the  steep  hill  down  which 
I  had  come  in  the  morning  a  man  was  mount- 
ing a  motor-cycle.  Beside  him  stood  one  or 
two  others — country  folk,  so  far  as  I  could 
judge  at  the  distance,  and  piecing  things  to- 
gether, it  seemed  plain  that  my  friend  had 
lately  been  one  of  the  party,  and  that  the  man 
they  had  been  gossiping  with  was  a  motor- 
cyclist in  search  of  me,  who  had  actually  paused 
to  make  inquiries  within  little  over  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  where  I  sat.  Quite  possibly  he 
had  been  there  for  some  time,  and  almost  cer- 
tainly he  would  have  ridden  past  without  sus- 
pecting my  presence  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
diabolical  mishap  of  this  chance  encounter. 

I  had  planted  my  cycle  on  the  road,  and 
was  ready  to  mount  before  my  friend  had  made 


4S  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

up  his  mind  what  to  do.  Even  then  his  pro- 
cedure luckily  lacked  decision. 

"Beg  pardon,  sir — I"  he  began,  making  a 
step  towards  me. 

"Good  evening!"  I  shouted,  and  the  next 
instant  the  engine  had  started,  and  I  was  in 
my  saddle. 

Even  then  my  pursuer  had  got  up  so  much 
speed  that  he  must  surely  have  caught  me 
had  he  not  stopped  to  make  inquiry  of  my 
late  acquaintance.  I  was  rounding  a  corner  at 
the  moment,  and  so  was  able  to  glance  over 
my  shoulder  and  see  what  was  happening. 
The  cyclist  was  then  in  the  act  of  remounting, 
and  I  noted  that  he  was  in  very  dark  clothes. 
It  might  or  might  not  have  been  a  uniform, 
but  I  fancied  it  was.  Anyhow,  I  felt  pecu- 
liarly little  enthusiasm  for  making  his  acquaint- 
ance. 

On  I  sped,  working  rapidly  up  to  forty 
miles  an  hour,  and  quite  careless  now  of  any 
little  sensation  I  might  cause.  T  had  sensa- 
tions myself,  and  did  not  grudge  them  to  other 
people.  The  road  quickly  left  the  coast  and 
turned  directly  inland,  and  presently  it  began 
to  wind  along  the  edge  of  a  long  reedy  stretch 


THE  NAILS  49 

of  water,  with  a  steep  bank  above  it  on  the 
other  side.  The  windings  gave  me  several 
chances  of  catching  a  glimpse  of  my  pursuer, 
and  I  saw  that  I  was  gaining  nothing;  in  fact, 
if  anjrthing  he  was  overhauling  me. 

"I'll  try  them!"  I  said  to  myself. 

"Them"  were  nails.  Wiedermann  had  done 
me  no  more  than  justice  in  assuming  I  had 
come  well  provided  against  possible  contin- 
gencies. Each  of  my  side-pockets  had  a  lit- 
tle packet  of  large-headed,  sharp-pointed  nails. 
I  had  several  times  thrown  them  experimen- 
tally on  the  floor  of  my  cabin,  and  found  that 
a  gratifying  number  lay  point  upwards.  I 
devoutly  prayed  they  would  behave  as  reason- 
ably now. 

This  stretch  of  road  was  ideal  for  their  use 
— narrow,  and  with  not  a  house  to  give  succour 
or  a  spectator  to  witness  such  a  very  suspicious 
performance.  I  threw  a  handful  behind  me, 
and  at  the  next  turn  of  the  road  glanced  round 
to  see  results.  The  man  was  still  going  strong. 
I  threw  another  handful  and  then  a  third,  but 
after  that  the  road  ran  straight  for  a  space, 
and  it  was  only  when  it  bent  to  the  right  round 
the  head  of  the  loch  that  I  was  able  to  see  him 


50  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

again.  He  had  stopped  far  back,  and  was 
examining  his  tyres. 

The  shadows  by  this  time  were  growing 
long,  but  there  were  still  some  hours  before 
darkness  would  really  shelter  me,  and  in  the 
meantime  what  was  I  to  do  with  myself,  and 
where  to  turn?  Judging  from  the  long  time 
that  had  elapsed  between  my  discovery  in  the 
early  morning  and  the  appearance  of  this 
cyclist  at  the  very  place  which  I  had  thought 
would  be  the  last  where  they  would  seek  me, 
the  rest  of  the  island  had  probably  been 
searched  and  the  hue  and  cry  had  died  down 
by  this  time.  So  for  some  time  I  ought  to 
be  fairly  safe  anywhere :  until,  in  fact,  my  pur- 
suer had  reached  a  telegraph  office,  and  other 
scouts  had  then  been  collected  and  sent  out. 
And  if  my  man  was  an  average  human  being, 
he  would  certainly  waste  a  lot  of  precious  time 
in  trying  to  pump  up  his  tyres  or  mend  them 
before  giving  it  up  as  a  bad  job  and  walking 
to  a  telegraph  office. 

That,  in  fact,  was  what  he  did,  for  in  this 
open  country  I  was  able  a  few  minutes  later 
to  see  him  in  the  far  distance  still  stopping  by 
that  loch  shore.     But  though  I  believe  in  trust- 


THE  NAILS  51 

ing  to  chance,  I  like  to  give  myself  as  many 
chances  as  possible.  I  knew  where  all  the 
telegraph  offices  were,  and  one  was  a  little 
nearer  him  than  I  quite  liked.  So  half  a  mile 
farther  on,  at  a  quiet  spot  on  a  hill,  I  jumped 
off  and  swarmed  up  one  of  the  telegraph-posts 
by  the  roadside,  and  then  I  took  out  of  my 
pocket  another  happy  inspiration.  When  I 
came  down  again,  there  was  a  gap  in  the 
wire. 

There  was  now  quite  a  good  chance  that  I 
might  retain  my  freedom  till  night  fell,  and 
if  I  could  hold  out  so  long  as  that — ^well,  we 
should  see  what  happened  then!  But  what 
was  to  be  done  in  the  meantime?  A  strong 
temptation  assailed  me,  and  I  yielded  to  it.  I 
should  get  as  near  to  my  night's  rendezvous 
as  possible,  and  try  to  find  some  secluded  spot 
there.  It  was  not  perhaps  the  very  wisest 
thing  to  risk  being  seen  there  by  daylight  and 
bring  suspicion  on  the  neighbourhood  where  I 
meant  to  spend  two  or  three  days ;  but  you  will 
presently  see  why  I  was  so  strongly  tempted. 
So  great,  in  fact,  was  the  temptation  that  till 
I  got  there  I  hardly  thought  of  the  risk. 

I  rode  for  a  little  longer  through  the  same 


52  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

kind  of  undulating,  loch-strewn  inland  coun- 
try, and  then  I  came  again  close  to  the  sea. 
But  it  was  not  the  open  sea  this  time.  It  was 
a  fairly  wide  sound  that  led  from  the  ocean 
into  a  very  important  place,  and  immediately 
I  began  to  see  things.  AVhat  things  they  were 
precisely  I  may  not  say,  but  they  had  to  do 
with  warfare,  with  making  this  sound  about  as 
easy  for  a  hostile  ship  to  get  through,  whether 
above  the  water  or  below,  as  a  pane  of  glass 
is  for  a  bluebottle.  As  I  rode  very  leisurely, 
with  my  head  half  turned  round  all  the  while, 
I  felt  that  my  time  was  not  wasted  if  I  escaped 
safely,  having  seen  simply  what  I  now  noted. 
For  my  eye  could  put  interpretations  on  fea- 
tures that  would  convey  nothing  to  the  ordi- 
nary traveller. 

Gradually  up  and  up  a  long  gentle  incline 
I  rode,  with  the  sound  falling  below  me  and 
a  mass  of  high  dark  hills  rising  beyond  it.  Be- 
hind me  the  sun  was  now  low,  and  my  shadow 
stretched  long  on  the  empty  road  ahead.  For 
it  was  singularly  empty,  and  the  country-side 
was  utterly  peaceful;  only  at  sea  was  there 
life — with  death  very  close  beside  it.  And 
now  and  then  there  rose  at  intervals  a  succes- 


THE  NAILS  63 

sion  of  dull,  heavy  sounds  that  made  the  earth 
quiver.     I  knew  what  they  meant! 

Then  came  a  dip,  and  then  a  very  steep  long 
hill  through  moorland  country.  And  then 
quite  suddenly  and  abruptly  I  came  to  the  top. 
It  was  a  mere  knife-edge,  with  the  road  in- 
stantly beginning  to  descend  steeply  on  the 
other  side,  but  I  did  not  descend  with  the  road. 
I  jumped  off  and  stared  with  bated  breath. 

Ahead  of  me  and  far  below,  a  wide  island- 
encircled  sheet  of  water  lay  placid  and  smil- 
ing in  the  late  afternoon  sunshine.  Strung 
along  one  side  of  it  were  lines  of  grey  ships, 
with  a  little  smoke  rising  from  most  of  their 
funnels,  but  lying  quite  still  and  silent — as 
still  and  silent  as  the  farms  and  fields  on  shore. 
Those  distant  patches  of  grey,  with  the  thin 
drifts  of  smoke  and  the  masts  encrusted  with 
small  grey  blobs  rising  out  of  their  midst,  those 
v/ere  the  cause  of  all  my  country's  troubles. 
But  for  them  peace  would  have  long  since  been 
dictated  and  a  mightier  German  Empire  would 
be  towering  above  all  other  States  in  the  world. 
How  I  hated — and  yet  (being  a  sailor  my- 
self) how  I  respected  them  I 


54  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

One  solitary  monster  of  this  Armada  was 
slowly  moving  across  the  land-locked  basin. 
Parallel  to  her  and  far  away  moved  a  tiny  ves- 
sel with  a  small  square  thing  following  her  at 
an  even  distance,  and  the  sun  shining  on  this 
showed  its  colour  red.  Suddenly  out  of  the 
monster  shot  a  series  of  long  bright  flashes. 
Nothing  else  happened  for  several  seconds,  and 
then  almost  simultaneously  "Boom!  boom! 
boom!"  hit  my  ear,  and  a  group  of  tall  white 
fountains  sprang  up  around  the  distant  red 
target.  The  Grand  Fleet  of  England  was 
preparing  for  "The  Day"! 

I  knew  the  big  vessel  at  a  glance;  I  knew 
her,  at  least,  as  one  of  a  certain  four,  and  for 
some  moments  I  watched  her  gunnery  prac- 
tice, too  fascinated  to  stir.  I  noted  how  the 
fall  of  her  shells  was  spread — in  fact  I  noted 
several  things;  and  then  it  occurred  to  me 
abruptly  that  I  stood  a  remarkably  good  chance 
of  having  a  wall  at  my  back  and  a  handker- 
chief over  my  eyes  if  I  lingered  in  this  open 
road  much  longer.  And  the  plea  that  I  was 
enjoying  the  excellent  gun-practice  made  by 
H.M.S.  Blank  would  scarcely  be  accepted  as 
an  extenuating  circumstance! 


THE  NAILS  65 

I  glanced  quickly  round,  and  then  I  realised 
how  wonderfully  luck  was  standing  by  me. 
At  the  summit  of  that  hill  there  were  naturally 
no  houses,  and  as  the  descending  road  on  either 
side  made  a  sharp  twist  almost  immediately,  I 
stood  quite  invisible  on  my  outlook  tower. 
The  road,  moreover,  ran  through  a  kind  of 
neck,  with  heather  rising  on  either  side ;  and  in 
a  moment  I  had  hauled  my  cycle  up  the  bank 
on  the  landward  side,  and  was  out  of  sight  over 
the  edge,  even  should  any  traveller  appear. 

After  a  few  minutes'  laborious  dragging  of 
my  cycle  I  found  myself  in  a  small  depression 
in  the  heather,  where,  by  lying  down,  I  could 
remain  quite  out  of  sight  unless  some  one 
walked  right  into  me — and  it  seemed  improb- 
able that  any  one  should  take  such  a  promenade 
with  the  good  road  so  close  at  hand.  By  rais- 
ing myself  on  my  knees  I  could  command  the 
same  engrossing  view  I  had  seen  from  the  road, 
only  I  now  also  saw  something  of  the  country 
that  sloped  down  to  the  sea;  and  with  a  thrill 
of  exultation  I  realised  that  this  prospect  ac- 
tually included  our  rendezvous. 


WAITING 

WHAT  I  saw  when  I  cautiously  peered 
over  the  rim  of  that  httle  hollow  was 
(beginning  at  the  top)  a  vast  expanse  of  pale- 
blue  sky,  with  fleecy  clouds  down  near  the 
horizon  already  tinged  with  pink  reflections 
from  the  sunset  far  off  behind  my  back.  Then 
came  a  shining  glimpse  of  the  North  Sea ;  then 
a  rim  of  green  islands,  rising  on  the  right  to 
high  heather  hills ;  then  the  land-locked  waters 
and  the  grey  ships  now  getting  blurred  and  less 
distinct;  then  some  portions  of  the  green  land 
that  sloped  up  to  where  I  lay;  and  among  these 
fields,  and  not  far  away  from  me,  the  steep  roof 
and  gable-top  of  a  grey,  old-fashioned  house. 
It  was  the  parish  manse,  the  pacific  abode  of 
the  professional  exponent  and  exemplar  of 
peace — the  parish  minister;  and  yet,  curiously 
enough,  it  was  that  house  which  my  eyes  de- 
voured. 

The  single  ship  had  now  ceased  firing  and 

56 


WAITING  5T 

anchored  with  her  consorts,  the  fleet  had  grown 
too  indistinct  to  note  anything  of  its  composi- 
tion, and  there  was  notliing  to  distract  my  at- 
tention from  the  house.  I  looked  at  it  hard 
and  long  and  studied  the  lie  of  the  ground  be- 
tween it  and  me,  and  then  I  lay  down  on  a 
couch  of  soft  heather  and  began  to  think. 

So  far  as  I  could  see  I  had  done  nothing 
yet  to  draw  suspicion  to  this  particular  spot, 
for  no  one  at  all  seemed  to  have  seen  me,  but 
it  was  manifest  that  there  would  be  a  hard 
and  close  hunt  for  the  mysterious  motor- 
cyclist on  the  morrow.  I  began  to  half  re- 
gret that  I  had  cut  that  telegraph  wire  and 
advertised  myself  so  patently  for  what  I  was. 
Now  it  was  quite  obvious  that  for  some  days 
to  come  motor-cj'^cling  would  be  an  unhealthy 
pastime  in  these  islands.  Even  at  night  how 
many  ears  would  be  listening  for  my  "phut- 
phut-phut,"  and  how  many  eyes  would  be  scan- 
ning the  dark  roads?  A  few  judiciously 
placed  and  very  simple  barricades — a  mere  bar 
on  two  uprights,  with  a  sentry  beside  each — 
and  what  chance  would  I  have  of  getting  back 
to  that  distant  bay,  especially  as  I  had  just 
been  seen  so  near  it? 


58  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"However,"  I  said  to  myself,  "that  is  look- 
ing too  far  ahead.  It  was  not  my  fault  I 
brought  this  hornets'  nest  about  my  ears. 
Just  bad  luck  and  a  clumsy  sailor!" 

Just  then  I  heard  something  approaching 
on  the  road  below  me,  and  in  a  minute  or  two 
it  became  unmistakably  the  sound  of  a  horse 
and  trap.  At  one  place  I  could  catch  a 
glimpse  of  this  road  between  the  hummocks  of 
heather,  and  I  raised  myself  again  and  looked 
out.  In  a  moment  the  horse  and  trap  ap- 
peared and  I  got  a  sensation  I  shall  not  soon 
forget.  Not  that  there  seemed  to  the  casual 
passer-by  anything  in  the  least  sensational 
about  this  equipage.  He  would  merely  have 
noticed  that  it  contained,  besides  the  driver,  a 
few  articles  of  luggage  and  a  gentleman  in  a 
flat-looking  felt  hat  and  an  overcoat — both  of 
them  black.  This  gentleman  was  sitting  with 
his  back  to  me  (he  was  in  a  small  waggonette) , 
but  I  could  scarcely  doubt  who  it  was.  But 
only  arriving  to-night! 

Curiosity  and  anxiety  so  devoured  me  that 
I  ran  a  little  risk.  Getting  out  of  my  hollow, 
I  crawled  forward  on  my  hands  and  knees  till 
I  could  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  side  road  lead- 


WAITING  59 

ing  to  that  house;  and  there  I  lay  flat  on  my 
face  and  watched. 

Down  the  steep  hill  the  horse  proceeded  at 
a  walk,  and  what  between  my  impatience  to 
make  sure,  and  my  consciousness  of  my  own 
rashness  in  quitting  even  for  a  moment  my 
sheltered  hollow,  I  passed  a  few  very  uncom- 
fortable minutes.  The  light  by  this  time  was 
failing  fast,  but  it  was  quite  clear  enough  to 
see  (or  be  seen) ,  and  at  last  I  caught  one  more 
glimpse  of  that  horse  and  trap — turning  off 
the  road  just  where  I  expected.  And  then  I 
was  crawling  back  with  more  haste  than  dig- 
nity. 

It  was  "him"!  And  he  had  only  arrived 
to-night.  If  it  had  not  been  for  my  accident, 
in  what  a  nice  dilemma  I  should  have  been 
landed!  Never  did  I  bless  any  one  more  fer- 
vently than  that  awkward  sailor  who  had  let 
my  cycle  slip,  and  as  for  the  wave  of  salt 
water  which  wet  it,  it  seemed  to  have  sprung 
from  the  age  of  miracles. 

The  trouble  of  my  discovery  and  its  pos- 
sible consequences  still  remained,  but  I  thought 
little  enough  of  that  now,  so  thankful  did  I 
feel  for  what  had  7iot  happened.     And  then 


60  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

I  stretched  myself  out  again  on  the  heather, 
waiting  with  all  the  patience  I  could  muster  for 
the  falling  of  night. 


At  this  point  Lieutenant  von  Belke's  narra- 
tive is  interrupted,  to  be  resumed  in  Part  III. 
A  few  chapters  from  the  records  of  the  Secret 
Service,  which  were  very  courteously  placed 
at  the  Editor's  disposal,  continue  the  story. 
They  describe  certain  important  incidents  that 
happened  before  the  Lieutenant  made  his  land- 
ing. 


PART  II 

A  FEW  CHAPTERS  BY  THE 
EDITOR 


PART  II 

A  FEW  CHAPTERS  BY  THE 
EDITOR 


THE  PLEASANT   STRANGER 

IT  was  in  July  of  that  same  year  that  the 
Rev.  Alexander  Burnett  was  abashed  to 
find  himself  inadvertentl}'-  conspicuous.  He 
had  very  heartily  permitted  himself  to  be  pho- 
tographed in  the  centre  of  a  small  group  of 
lads  from  his  parish  who  had  heard  their  coun- 
try's call  and  were  home  in  their  khaki  for  a 
last  leave-taking.  Moreover,  the  excellence 
of  the  photograph  and  the  undeniably  close  re- 
semblance of  his  own  portrait  to  the  reflection 
he  surveyed  each  morning  when  shaving,  had 
decidedly  pleased  him.  But  the  appearance 
of  this  group,  first  as  an  illustration  in  a  local 
paper  and  then  in  one  that  enjoyed  a  very 

63 


64  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

wide  circulation  indeed,  embarrassed  him  not 
a  little.  For  he  was  a  modest,  publicity-avoid- 
ing man,  and  also  he  felt  he  ought  to  have  been 
in  khaki  too. 

Not  that  Mr.  Burnett  had  anything  really 
to  reproach  himself  with,  for  he  was  in  the 
forties,  some  years  above  military  age.  But 
he  was  a  widower  without  a  family,  who  had 
already  spent  fifteen  years  in  a  sparsely  in- 
habited parish  in  the  south-east  of  Scotland 
not  very  far  from  the  Border;  and  ever  since 
he  lost  his  wife  had  been  uneasy  in  mind  and 
a  little  morbid,  and  anxious  for  change  of  scene 
and  fresh  experiences.  He  was  to  get  them, 
and  little  though  he  dreamt  it,  that  group  was 
their  beginning.  Indeed,  it  would  have  taken 
as  cunning  a  brain  to  scent  danger  in  the  tri- 
fling incidents  with  which  his  strange  adven- 
ture began  as  it  took  to  arrange  them.  And 
Mr.  Burnett  was  not  at  all  cunning,  being  a 
simple,  quiet  man.  In  appearance  he  was 
rather  tall,  with  a  clean-shaven,  thoughtful 
face,  and  hair  beginning  to  turn  grey. 

A  few  days  later  a  newspaper  arrived  by 
post.  He  had  received  several  already  from 
well-meaning  friends,  each  with  that  group  in 


THE  PLEASANT  STRANGER  65 

it,  and  he  sighed  as  he  opened  this  one.  It 
was  quite  a  different  paper,  however,  with  no 
illustrations,  but  with  a  certain  page  indicated 
in  blue  pencil,  and  a  blue  jjencil  mark  in  the 
margin  of  that  page.  What  his  attention  was 
called  to  was  simply  the  announcement  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Maxwell,  minister  of  the  parish  of 
Myredale,  had  been  appointed  to  another 
charge,  and  that  there  was  now  a  vacancy  there. 

Mr.  Burnett  looked  at  the  wrapper,  but  his 
name  and  address  had  been  typewritten  and 
gave  him  no  clue.  He  wondered  who  had  sent 
him  the  paper,  and  then  his  thoughts  naturally 
turned  to  the  vacant  parish.  He  knew  that 
it  lay  in  a  certain  group  of  northern  islands, 
which  we  may  call  here  the  Windy  Isles,  and 
he  presumed  that  the  stipend  would  not  be 
great.  Still,  it  was  probably  a  better  living 
than  his  own  small  parish,  and  as  for  its  re- 
moteness, well,  he  liked  quiet,  out-of-the-way 
places,  and  it  would  certainly  be  a  complete 
change  of  scene.  He  let  the  matter  he  in  the 
back  of  his  mind,  and  there  it  M^ould  very  likely 
have  remained  but  for  a  curious  circumstance 
on  the  following  Sunda3\ 

His  little  parish  church  was  seldom  visited 


66  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

by  strangers,  and  when  by  any  chance  one  did 
appear,  the  minister  was  very  quickly  con- 
scious of  the  fact.  He  always  took  stock  of 
his  congregation  during  the  first  psalm,  and 
on  this  Sabbath  his  experienced  eye  had  noted 
a  stranger  before  the  end  of  the  opening  verse. 
A  pleasant-looking  gentleman  in  spectacles  he 
appeared  to  be,  and  of  a  most  exemplary  and 
devout  habit  of  mind.  In  fact,  he  hardly  once 
seemed  to  take  his  spectacled  gaze  off  the  min- 
ister's face  during  the  whole  serv^ice;  and  Mr. 
Burnett  believed  in  giving  his  congregation 
good  measure. 

It  was  a  fine  day,  and  when  service  was 
over  the  minister  walked  back  to  his  manse 
at  a  very  leisurely  pace,  enjoying  the  sun- 
shine after  a  week  of  showery  weather.  The 
road  he  followed  crossed  the  river,  and  as  he 
approached  the  bridge  he  saw  the  same  stranger 
leaning  over  the  parapet,  smoking  a  cigar,  and 
gazing  at  the  brown  stream.  Near  him  at  the 
side  of  the  road  was  drawn  up  a  large  dark- 
green  touring  car,  which  apparently  the  gen- 
tleman had  driven  himself,  for  there  was  no 
sign  of  a  chauffeur. 

"Good  day,  sir!"  said  the  stranger  affably, 


THE  PLEASANT  STRANGER  67 

as  the  minister  came  up  to  him.  "Lovely 
weather!" 

Mr.  Burnett,  nothing  loath  to  hear  a  fresh 
voice,  stopped  and  smiled  and  agreed  that  the 
day  was  fine.  He  saw  now  that  the  stranger 
was  a  middle-sized  man  with  a  full  fair  mous- 
tache, jovial  eyes  behind  his  gold-rimmed  spec- 
tacles, and  a  rosy  healthy  colour;  while  his 
manner  was  friendliness  itself.  The  minister 
felt  pleasantly  impressed  with  him  at  once. 

"Any  trout  in  this  stream?"  inquired  the 
stranger. 

Mr.  Burnett  answered  that  it  was  famed  as 
a  fishing  river,  at  which  the  stranger  seemed 
vastly  interested  and  pleased,  and  put  several 
questions  regarding  the  baskets  that  were 
caught.  Then  he  grew  a  little  more  serious 
and  said — 

"I  hope  you  will  pardon  me,  sir,  for  thank- 
ing you  for  a  very  excellent  sermon.  As  I 
happened  to  be  motoring  past  just  as  church 
was  going  in  I  thought  I'd  look  in  too.  But 
I  assure  you  I  had  no  suspicion  I  should  hear 
so  good  a  discourse.     I  appreciated  it  highly." 

Though  a  modest  man,  ^Ir.  Burnett  granted 
the  stranger's  pardon  very  readily.     Indeed, 


68  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

he  became  more  favourably  impressed  with  him 
than  ever. 

"I  am  very  pleased  to  hear  you  say  so,"  he 
replied,  "for  in  an  out-of-the-way  place  like 
this  one  is  apt  to  get  very  rusty." 

"I  don't  agree  with  you  at  all,  sir,"  said  the 
stranger  energetically,  "if  you'll  pardon  my 
saying  so.  In  my  experience — which  is  pretty 
wide,!  may  add — the  best  thinking  is  done  in 
out-of-the-way  places.  I  don't  say  the  show- 
iest, mind  you,  but  the  hestT 

Again  the  minister  pardoned  him  without 
difficulty. 

"Of  course  one  needs  a  change  now  and 
then,  I  admit,"  continued  the  stranger.  "But, 
my  dear  sir,  whatever  you  do,  don't  go  and 
bury  yourself  in  a  crowd!" 

This  struck  Mr.  Burnett  as  a  novel  and 
very  interesting  way  of  putting  the  matter. 
He  forgot  all  about  the  dinner  awaiting  him 
at  the  manse,  and  when  the  stranger  offered 
him  a  very  promising-looking  cigar,  he  ac- 
cepted it  with  pleasure,  and  leaned  over  the 
parapet  beside  him.  There,  with  his  eyes  on 
the  running  water,  he  listened  and  talked  for 
some  time. 


THE  PLEASANT  STRANGER  69 

The  stranger  began  to  talk  about  the  vari- 
ous charming  out-of-the-way  places  in  Scot- 
land. It  seemed  he  was  a  perfervid  admirer 
of  everything  Scottish,  and  had  motored  or 
tramped  all  over  the  country  from  Berwick 
to  the  Pentland  Firth.  In  fact,  he  had  even 
crossed  the  waters,  for  he  presently  burst  forth 
into  a  eulogy  of  the  Windy  Islands. 

"The  most  delightful  spot,  sir,  I  have  ever 
visited!"  he  said  enthusiastically.  "There  is 
a  peacefulness  and  charm,  and  at  the  same  time 
something  stimulating  in  the  air  I  simply  can't 
describe.  In  body  and  mind  I  felt  a  new  man 
after  a  week  there!" 

The  minister  was  so  clearly  struck  by  this, 
and  his  interest  so  roused,  that  the  stranger 
pursued  the  topic  and  added  a  number  of  en- 
ticing details. 

"By  the  way,"  he  exclaimed  presently,  "do 
you  happen  to  know  a  fellow-clerg\^man  there 
called  Maxwell?  His  parish  is — let  me  see — 
Ah,  Myredale,  that's  the  name." 

This  struck  Mr.  Burnett  as  quite  extraor- 
dinary. 

"I  don't  know  him  personally,"  he  began. 

"A    very   sensible    fellow,"    continued   the 


70  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

stranger  impetuously.  "He  told  me  his  par- 
ish was  as  like  heaven  as  anything  on  this  mor- 
tal earth!" 

"He  has  just  left  it,"  said  Mr.  Burnett. 

The  stranger  seemed  surprised  and  inter- 
ested. 

"What  a  chance  for  some  one!"  he  ex- 
claimed. 

Mr.  Burnett  gazed  thoughtfully  through  the 
smoke  of  his  cigar  into  the  brown  water  of  the 
river  below  him. 

"I  have  had  thoughts  of  making  a  change  my- 
self," he  said  slowly.  "But  of  course  they  might 
not  select  me  even  if  I  applied  for  Myredale." 

"In  the  Scottish  Church  the  custom  is  to  go 
to  the  vacant  parish  to  preach  a  trial  sermon, 
isn't  it?"  inquired  the  stranger. 

The  minister  nodded.  "A  system  I  disap- 
prove of,  I  may  say,"  said  he. 

"I  quite  agree  with  you,"  said  the  stranger 
sympathetically.  "Still,  so  long  as  that  is  the 
system,  why  not  try  your  luck?  Mind  you,  I 
talk  as  one  who  knows  the  place,  and  knows 
Mr.  Maxwell  and  his  opinion  of  it.  You'll 
have  an  enviable  visit,  whatever  happens." 

"It  is  a  very  long  way,"  said  Mr.  Burnett. 


THE  PLEASANT  STRANGER  71 

"Don't  they  pay  your  expenses?" 

"Yes,"  admitted  the  minister.  "But  then 
I  understand  that  those  islands  are  very  diffi- 
cult for  a  stranger  to  enter  at  present.  The 
naval  authorities  are  extremely  strict." 

The  stranger  laughed  jovially. 

"My  dear  sir,"  he  cried,  "can  you  imagine 
even  the  British  Navy  standing  between  a 
Scotch  congregation  and  its  sermon !  You  are 
the  one  kind  of  stranger  who  will  be  admitted. 
All  you  have  to  do  is  to  get  a  passport — and 
there  you  arel" 

"Are  they  difficult  to  get?" 

The  stranger  laughed  again. 

"I  know  nothing  about  that  kind  of  thing," 
said  he.  "I'm  a  Lancashire  lad,  and  the  buzz 
of  machinery  is  my  game;  but  I  can  safely 
say  this :  that  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  get- 
ting a  passport." 

Mr.  Burnett  again  gazed  at  the  water  in  si- 
lence. 

Then  he  looked  up  and  said  with  a  serious 
face — 

"I  must  really  tell  you,  sir,  of  a  very  re- 
markable coincidence.  Only  a  few  days  ago 
some  unknown  friend  sent  me  a  copy  of  a  news- 


72  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

paper  with  a  notice  of  this  very  vacancy  marked 
in  it!" 

The  Lancashire  lad  looked  almost  thunder- 
struck by  this  extraordinary  disclosure. 

"Well,  I'm  hanged !"  he  cried — adding  hur- 
riedly, "if  you'll  forgive  mv  strong  language, 
sir." 

"It  seeems  to  me  to  be  providential,"  said 
Mr.  Burnett  in  a  low  and  very  serious  voice. 

With  equal  solemnity  the  stranger  declared 
that  though  not  an  unusually  good  man  him- 
self, this  solution  had  already  struck  him  for- 
cibly. 

At  this  point  the  minister  became  conscious 
of  the  distant  ringing  of  a  bell,  and  recognised 
with  a  start  the  strident  note  of  his  own  dinner 
bell  swimg  with  a  vigorous  arm  somewhere  in 
the  road  ahead.  He  shook  hands  cordially 
with  the  stranger,  thanked  him  for  the  very 
interesting  talk  he  had  enjoyed,  and  hurried 
off  towards  his  over-cooked  roast. 

The  stranger  remained  for  a  few  moments 
still  leaning  against  the  parapet.  His  jovial 
face  had  been  wreathed  in  smiles  throughout 
the  whole  conversation;  he  still  smiled  now, 
but  with  rather  a  different  expression. 


II 

THE   CHAUFFEUR 

MR.  BURNETT  was  somewhat  slow  in 
coming  to  decisions,  but  once  he  had 
taken  an  idea  to  do  a  thing  he  generally  car- 
ried it  out.  In  the  course  of  a  week  or  ten 
days  he  had  presented  himself  as  a  candidate 
for  the  vacant  church  of  JVIyredale,  and  made 
arrangements  for  appearing  in  the  pulpit  there 
on  a  certain  Sunday  in  August.  He  was  to 
arrive  in  the  islands  on  the  Thursday,  spend 
the  week-end  in  the  empty  manse,  preach  on 
Sunday,  and  return  on  Monday  or  Tuesday. 
His  old  friend  ]Mr.  Dinimmond  in  Edinburgh, 
hearing  of  the  plan,  invited  him  to  break  his 
journey  at  his  house,  arriving  on  Tuesday 
afternoon,  and  going  on  by  the  Xorth  train 
on  Wednesday  night.  Accordingly,  he  ar- 
ranged to  have  a  trap  at  the  manse  on  Tuesday 
afternoon,   drive   to   Berwick   and   catch   the 

Scotch  express,  getting  into  Edinburgh  at  6.15. 

73 


74  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

He  was  a  reticent  man,  and  in  any  case  had 
few  neighbours  to  gossip  with,  so  that  as  far 
as  he  himself  knew,  the  Drummonds  alone  had 
been  informed  of  all  these  details.  But  he 
had  in  the  manse  a  very  valuable  domestic, 
who  added  to  her  more  ordinary  virtues  a  pas- 
sion for  conversation. 

On  the  Saturday  afternoon  before  he  was 
due  to  start,  he  was  returning  from  a  walk, 
when  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  man's  figure 
disappearing  into  a  small  pine  wood  at  the 
back  of  his  house,  and  when  his  invaluable 
Mary  brought  him  in  his  tea,  he  inquired  who 
her  visitor  had  been. 

"Oh,  sic  a  nice  young  felly!"  said  Mary  en- 
thusiastically. "He's  been  a  soger,  wounded 
at  Mons  he  was,  and  walking  to  Berwick  to 
look  for  a  job." 

Though  simple,  the  minister  was  not  with- 
out some  sad  experience  of  human  nature,  par- 
ticularly the  nature  of  wounded  heroes,  tramp- 
ing the  country  for  jobs. 

"I  hope  you  didn't  give  him  any  money," 
said  he. 

"He  never  askit  for  money!"  cried  Mary. 
"Oh,  he  was  not  that  kind  at  a'!     A  maist 


THE  CHAUFFEUR  75 

civil  young  chap  he  was,  and  maist  interested 
to  hear  where  you  were  gaun,  and  sic  like," 

The  minister  shook  his  head. 

"You  told  him  when  I  was  leaving,  and  all 
about  it,  I  suppose?" 

"There  was  nae  secret,  was  there?"  de- 
manded IMary. 

Mr.  Burnett  looked  at  her  seriously. 

"As  like  as  not,"  said  he;  "he  just  wished 
to  know  when  the  man  of  the  house  would  be 
away.  Mind  and  keep  the  doors  locked, 
Mary,  and  if  he  comes  back,  don't  let  him  into 
the  kitchen  whatever  cock-and-bull  story  he 
tells." 

He  knew  that  Mary  was  a  sensible  enough 
woman,  and  having  given  her  this  warning,  he 
forgot  the  whole  incident — till  later. 

Tuesday  was  fine  and  warm,  a  perfect  day 
on  which  to  start  a  journey,  and  about  mid- 
day Mr.  Burnett  was  packing  a  couple  of  bags 
with  a  sense  of  pleasant  anticipation,  when  a 
telegram  arrived.  This  was  exactly  how  it 
ran: — 

"My  friend  Taylor  motoring  to  Edinburgh 
to-day.     Will  pick  you  and  luggage  up  at 


76  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

Manse  about  six,  and  bring  you  to  my  house. 
Don't  trouble  reply,  assume  this  suits,  shall 
be  out  till  late.  Drummond." 

"There's  no  answer,"  said  Mr.  Burnett  with 
a  smile. 

He  was  delighted  with  this  change  in  his 
programme,  and  at  once  countermanded  his 
trap,  and  ordered  Mary  to  set  about  making 
scones  and  a  currant  cake  for  tea. 

"This  Mr.  Taylor  will  surely  be  wanting 
his  tea  before  he  starts,"  said  he,  "though  it's 
likely  he  won't  want  to  waste  too  much  time 
over  it,  or  it  will  be  dark  long  before  we  get 
to  Edinburgh.  So  have  everything  ready, 
Mary,  but  just  the  infusing  of  the  tea." 

Then  with  an  easy  mind,  feeling  that  there 
was  no  hurry  now,  he  sat  down  to  his  early 
dinner.  As  he  dined  he  studied  the  telegram 
more  carefully,  and  it  was  then  that  one  or 
two  slight  peculiarities  struck  him.  They 
seemed  to  him  very  trifling,  but  they  set  him 
wondering  and  smiling  a  little  to  himself. 

He  knew  most  of  the  Drummonds'  friends, 
and  yet  never  before  had  he  heard  of  an  af- 
fluent motor-driving  Mr.  Taylor  among  them. 


THE  CHAUFFEUR  77 

Still,  there  was  nothing  surprising  about  that, 
for  one  may  make  a  new  friend  any  day,  and 
one's  old  friends  never  hear  of  him  for  long 
enough. 

The  really  unusual  features  about  this  tele- 
gram were  its  length  and  clearness  and  the 
elaborate  injunctions  against  troubling  to  an- 
swer it. 

Robert  Drummond  was  an  excellent  and 
Christian  man,  but  he  had  never  been  remark- 
able for  profuse  expenditure.  In  fact,  he 
guarded  his  bawbees  very  carefully  indeed,  and 
among  other  judicious  precautions  he  never 
sent  telegrams  if  he  could  help  it,  and  when 
fate  forced  his  hand,  kept  very  rigorously 
within  the  twelve-word  limit.  His  telegrams 
in  consequence  were  celebrated  more  for  their 
conciseness  than  their  clarity.  Yet  here  he 
was  sending  a  telegram  thirty-four  words  long, 
apart  from  the  address  and  signature,  and 
spending  halfpenny  after  halfpenny  with  reck- 
less profusion  to  make  every  detail  explicit ! 

Particularly  curious  were  the  three  clauses 
all  devoted  to  saving  Mr.  Burnett  the  trouble 
of  replying.  Never  before  had  ^Ir.  Drum- 
mond shown  such  extraordinary  consideration 


78  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

for  a  friend's  purse,  and  it  is  a  discouraging" 
feature  of  human  nature  that  even  the  worthy 
Mr.  Burnett  felt  more  puzzled  than  touched 
by  his  generous  thoughtfulness. 

"Robert  Drummond  never  wrote  out  that 
wire  himself,"  he  concluded.  "He  must  just 
have  told  some  one  what  he  wanted  to  say,  and 
they  must  have  written  it  themselves.  Well, 
we'll  hope  they  paid  for  it  too,  or  Robert  will 
be  terribly  annoyed." 

The  afternoon  wore  on,  and  as  six  o'clock 
drew  near,  the  minister  began  to  look  out  for 
Mr.  Taylor  and  his  car.  But  six  o'clock 
passed,  and  quarter-past  six,  and  still  there 
was  no  sign  of  him.  The  minister  began  to 
grow  a  little  worried  lest  they  should  have  to 
do  most  of  the  journey  in  the  dark,  for  he  was 
an  inexperienced  motorist,  and  such  a  long 
drive  by  night  seemed  to  him  a  formidable  and 
risky  undertaking. 

At  last  at  half-past  six  the  thrum  of  a  car 
was  heard,  and  a  few  minutes  later  a  long, 
raking,  dark-green  touring  car  dashed  up  to 
the  door  of  the  modest  manse.  The  minister 
hurried  out  to  welcome  his  guest,  and  then 


THE  CHAUFFEUR  79 

stopped  dead  short  in  sheer  astonishment. 
Mr.  Taylor  was  none  other  than  the  Lanca- 
shire lad. 

On  his  part,  Mr.  Taylor  seemed  almost 
equally  surprised. 

"WeU,  I'm  blowed!"  he  cried  jovially.  "If 
this  isn't  the  most  extraordinary  coincidence! 
When  I  got  Robert  Drummond's  note,  and  no- 
ticed the  part  of  the  country  you  lived  in,  I 
wondered  if  you  could  possibly  be  the  same 
minister  I'd  met;  but  it  really  seemed  too  good 
to  be  true!    Delighted  to  meet  you  again!" 

He  laughed  loud  and  cheerfully,  and  wrung 
the  minister's  hand  hke  an  old  friend.  Mr. 
Burnett,  though  less  demonstrative,  felt  heart- 
ily pleased,  and  led  his  guest  cordially  into  the 
manse  parlour. 

"You'll  have  some  tea  before  you  start,  I 
hope?"  he  inquired. 

"Ra-ther!"  cried  Mr.  Taylor.  "I've  a  Lan- 
cashire appetite  for  tea!     Ha,  ha,  ha!" 

"Well,  I'll  have  it  in  at  once,"  said  the  min- 
ister, ringing  the  bell,  "for  I  suppose  we  ought 
not  to  postpone  our  start  too  long." 

"No  hurry  at  all,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Mr. 


80  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

Taylor,  throwing  himself  into  the  easiest  chair 
the  minister  possessed.  "I  mean  to  have  a 
jolly  good  tuck  in  before  I  start!" 

At  that  moment  Mr.  Burnett  remembered 
that  this  time  he  had  seen  a  chauffeur  in  the 
car.  He  went  hospitably  out  of  the  room  and 
turned  towards  the  front  door.  But  hardly 
had  he  turned  in  that  direction  when  he  heard 
Mr.  Taylor  call  out — 

"Hallo!     "\^niere  are  you  going?" 

And  the  next  moment  he  was  after  the  min- 
ister and  had  him  by  the  arm  just  as  they 
reached  the  open  front  door.  Mr.  Burnett 
ever  afterwards  remembered  the  curious  im- 
pression produced  on  him  by  the  note  in  IMr. 
Taylor's  voice,  and  that  hurried  grip  of  the 
arm.  Suspicion,  alarm,  a  note  of  anger,  all 
seemed  to  be  blended. 

"I — I  was  only  going  to  ask  your  driver  to 
come  and  have  a  cup  of  tea  in  the  kitchen," 
stammered  the  embarrassed  minister. 

"My  dear  sir,  he  doesn't  want  any;  I've 
asked  him  already!"  said  Mr.  Taylor.  "I  as- 
sure you  honestly  I  have !" 

INIr.  Burnett  suffered  himself  to  be  led  back 
wondering  greatly.     He  had  caught  a  glimpse 


THE  CHAUFFEUR  81 

of  the  chauffeur,  a  clean-shaven,  well-turned- 
out  man,  sitting  back  in  his  seat  with  his  cap 
far  over  his  eyes,  and  even  in  that  hurried 
glance  at  part  of  his  face  he  had  been  struck 
with  something  curiously  familiar  about  the 
man;  though  whether  he  had  seen  him  before, 
or,  if  not,  who  he  reminded  him  of,  he  was  quite 
unable  to  say.  And  then  there  was  Mr.  Tay- 
lor's extraordinary  change  of  manner  the  very 
moment  he  started  to  see  the  chauffeur.  He 
could  make  nothing  of  it  at  all,  but  for  some 
little  time  afterwards  he  had  a  vague  sense  of 
disquiet. 

Mr.  Taylor,  on  his  part,  had  recovered  his 
cheerfulness  as  quickly  as  he  had  lost  it. 

"Forgive  me,  my  dear  Mr.  Burnett,"  he  said 
earnestly,  yet  always  with  the  rich  jolly  note  in 
his  voice.  "I  must  have  seemed  a  perfect  ma- 
niac. The  truth  is,  between  ourselves,  I  had  a 
terrible  suspicion  you  were  going  to  offer  my 
good  James  whisky!" 

"Oh,"  said  the  minister.  "Is  he  then — er — 
an  abstainer?" 

Mr.  Taylor  laughed  pleasantly. 

"I  wish  he  were!  A  wee  drappie  is  his  one 
failing;  ha,  ha!     I  never  allow  my  chauffeur 


82  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

to  touch  a  drop  while  I'm  on  the  road,  Mr.  Bur- 
nett— never,  sir!" 

Mr.  Burnett  was  slow  to  suspect  ill  of  any- 
one, but  he  was  just  as  slow  in  getting  rid  of  a 
suspicion.  With  all  his  simplicity,  he  could 
not  but  think  that  Mr.  Taylor  jumped  extraor- 
dinarily quickly  to  conclusions  and  got  excited 
on  smaller  provocation  than  any  one  he  had 
ever  met.  Over  his  first  cup  of  tea  he  sat  very 
silent. 

In  the  meantime  the  sociable  Mary  had  been 
suffering  from  a  sense  of  disappointment. 
Surely  the  beautiful  liveried  figure  in  the  car 
would  require  his  tea  and  eggs  like  his  master? 
For  a  little  she  sat  awaiting  his  arrival  in  the 
kitchen,  with  her  cap  neatly  arranged,  and  an 
expectant  smile.  But  gradually  disappoint- 
ment deepened.  She  considered  the  matter 
judicially.  Clearly,  she  decided,  Mr.  Burnett 
had  forgotten  the  tradition  of  hospitality  as- 
sociated with  that  and  every  other  manse. 
And  then  she  decided  that  her  own  duty  was 
plain. 

She  went  out  of  the  back  door  and  round 
the  house.  There  stood  the  car,  with  the  re- 
splendent figure  leaning  back  in  his  seat,  his 


THE  CHAUFFEUR  83 

cap  still  over  his  eyes,  and  his  face  now  resting 
on  his  hand,  so  that  she  could  barely  see  more 
than  the  tip  of  his  nose.  He  heard  nothing  of 
her  approach  till  she  was  fairly  at  his  side,  and 
in  her  high  and  penetrating  voice  cried — 

"Will  ye  not  be  for  a  cup  of  tea  and  an  egg 
to  it,  eh?" 

The  chauffeur  started,  and  Mary  started 
too.  She  had  seen  his  face  for  an  instant, 
though  he  covered  it  quickly,  but  apparently 
quite  naturally,  with  his  hand. 

"No,  thanks,"  he  said  brusquely,  and  turned 
away  his  eyes. 

Mary  went  back  to  the  kitchen  divided  be- 
tween annoyance  at  the  rebuff  and  wonder. 
The  liveried  figure  might  have  been  the  twin- 
brother  of  the  minister. 


Ill 

ON  THE  CLIFF 

GRADUALLY  Mr.  Burnett  recovered 
his  composure.  His  guest  was  so  genial 
and  friendly  and  appreciative  of  the  scones  and 
the  currant  cake  that  he  began  to  upbraid  him- 
self for  churlishness  in  allowing  anything  like 
a  suspicion  of  this  pleasant  gentleman  to  linger 
in  his  mind.  There  remained  a  persistent  lit- 
tle shadow  which  he  could  not  quite  drive  away, 
but  he  conscientiously  tried  his  best.  As  for 
Mr.  Taylor,  there  never  was  a  jollier  and  yet 
a  more  thoughtful  companion.  He  seemed 
to  think  of  every  mortal  thing  that  the  minis- 
ter could  possibly  need  for  his  journey. 

"Got  your  passport?"  he  inquired. 

"Yes,"  said  the  minister.  "I  am  carrying 
it  in  my  breast-pocket.  It  ought  to  be  safe 
there." 

"The  safest  place  possible !"  said  Mr.  Taylor 
cordially.     "It's  all  in  order,  I  presume,  eh?" 

84 


ON  THE  CLIFF  85 

Mr.  Burnett  took  the  passport  out  of  his 
pocket  and  showed  it  to  hini.  His  guest 
closely  examined  the  minister's  photograph 
which  was  attached,  went  through  all  the  par- 
ticulars carefully,  and  pronounced  everything 
in  order,  as  far  as  an  ignorant  outsider  like 
himself  could  judge. 

"Of  course,"  he  said,  "I'm  a  business  man, 
Mr.  Burnett,  and  I  can  tell  when  a  thing  looks 
businesslike,  though  I  know  no  more  about 
what  the  authorities  require  and  why  they  ask 
for  all  these  particulars  than  you  do.  It's  all 
red  tape,  I  suppose." 

As  a  further  precaution  he  recommended  his 
host  to  shp  a  few  letters  and  a  receipted  bill  or 
two  into  his  pocket-book,  so  that  he  would  have 
a  readj^  means  of  establishing  his  identity  if 
any  difficult}^  arose.  Mr.  Burnett  was  some- 
what surprised,  but  accepted  his  guest's  word 
for  it,  as  a  shrewd  Lancashire  lad,  that  these 
little  tips  were  well  worth  taking. 

By  this  time  the  evening  was  falling,  and 
at  length  ]Mr.  Taylor  declared  himself  ready 
for  the  road.  He  had  drunk  four  cups  of  tea, 
and  hurried  over  none  of  them.  For  a  mo- 
ment Mr.  Burnett  half  wondered  if  he  had  any 


86  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

reason  for  delaying  their  start,  but  immedi- 
ately reproached  himself  for  harbouring  such 
a  thought.  Indeed,  why  should  he  think  so? 
There  seemed  nothing  whatever  to  be  gained 
by  delay,  with  the  dusk  falling  so  fast  and  a 
long  road  ahead. 

The  minister's  rug  and  umbrella  and  two 
leather  bags  were  put  into  the  car,  he  and  Mr. 
Taylor  got  aboard,  and  off  they  went  at  last. 
Mr.  Burnett  had  another  glance  at  the  chauf- 
feur, and  again  was  haunted  by  an  odd  sense 
of  familiarity;  but  once  they  had  started,  the 
view  of  his  back  in  the  gathering  dusk  sug- 
gested nothing  more  explicit. 

Presently  they  passed  a  corner,  and  the  min- 
ister looked  round  uneasily. 

"What  road  are  you  taking?"  he  asked. 

"We're  going  to  join  the  coast  road  from 
Berwick,"  said  Mr.  Taylor. 

"Isn't  that  rather  roundabout?" 

Mr.  Taylor  laughed  jovially. 

"My  good  James  has  his  own  ideas,"  said 
he.  "As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  fancy  he  knows 
the  coast  road  and  isn't  sure  of  the  other. 
However,  we  needn't  worry  about  that.     With 


ON  THE  CLIFF  87 

a  car  like  this  the  difference  in  time  will  be  a 
flea-bite!" 

He  had  provided  the  minister  with  another 
excellent  cigar,  and  smoking  in  comfort  behind 
a  glass  wind-screen,  with  the  dim  country  slip- 
ping by  and  the  first  pale  star  faintlj^  shining 
overhead,  the  pair  fell  into  easy  discourse. 
Mr.  Taylor  was  a  remarkably  sympathetic 
talker,  the  minister  found.  He  kept  the  con- 
versation entirely  on  his  companion's  affairs, 
putting  innumerable  questions  as  to  his  habits 
and  way  of  life,  and  indeed  his  whole  history, 
and  exhibiting  a  flattering  interest  in  his  an- 
swers. Mr.  Burnett  said  to  himself  at  last, 
with  a  smile,  that  this  inquiring  gentleman 
would  soon  know  as  much  about  him  as  he 
knew  himself. 

Once  or  twice  the  minister  wondered  how 
fast  they  were  really  going.  They  did  not 
seem  to  him  to  be  achieving  anj^  very  extraor- 
dinary speed,  but  possibly  that  was  only  be- 
cause the  big  car  ran  so  easily.  In  fact,  when 
he  once  questioned  his  companion,  Mr.  Taylor 
assured  him  that  actually  was  the  explanation. 
It  was  thus  prettj^  dark  when  they  struck  the 


88  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

coast  road,  and  it  grew  ever  darker  as  they  ran 
northward  through  a  bare,  treeless  country, 
with  the  cliff  edge  never  far  away  and  the 
North  Sea  glimmering  beyond. 

They  had  reached  an  absolutely  lonely 
stretch  of  road  that  hugged  the  shore  closely 
when  the  car  suddenly  stopped. 

*'Hallo!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Taylor,  "what's 
up?" 

The  chauffeur  half-turned  round  and  said 
in  a  low  voice — 

"Did  you  see  that  light,  sir?" 

"Which  hght?" 

The  chauffeur  pointed  to  the  dark  stretch 
of  turf  between  them  and  the  edge  of  the  cliffs. 

"Just  there,  sir.  I  saw  it  flash  for  a  second. 
I  got  a  glimpse  of  some  one  mov^ing  too,  sir." 

Mr.  Taylor  became  intensely  excited. 

"A  spy  signalling!"  he  exclaimed. 

"Looks  like  it,  sir,"  said  the  chauffeur. 

Mr.  Taylor  turned  to  the  minister  with  an 
eager,  resolute  air. 

"Our  duty's  clear,  Mr.  Burnett,"  said  he. 
"As  loyal  subjects  of  King  George — God  bless 
him! — we've  got  to  have  a  look  into  this!" 

With  that  he  jumped  out  and  stood  by  the 


ON  THE  CLIFF  89 

open  door,  evidently  expecting  the  minister  to 
follow.  For  a  moment  Mr.  Bm'nett  hesitated. 
A  vague  sense  that  all  was  not  well  suddenly 
affected  him.  "Do  not  go !"  something  seemed 
to  say  to  him.  And  yet  as  a  man  and  a  loyal 
subject  how  could  he  possibly  decline  to  assist 
in  an  effort  to  foil  the  King's  enemies?  Re- 
luctantly he  descended  from  the  car,  and  once 
he  was  on  the  road,  INIr.  Taylor  gave  him  no 
time  for  further  debate. 

"Come  on!"  he  whispered  eagerly;  and  then 
turning  to  the  chauffeur,  "come  along  too, 
James!" 

Close  by  there  was  a  gate  in  the  fence,  and 
they  all  three  went  through  this  and  quietly 
crossed  the  short  stretch  of  grass  between  the 
road  and  the  cliffs,  Mr.  Taylor  and  the  min- 
ister walking  in  front  and  the  chauffeur  follow- 
ing close  at  their  heels.  Now  that  the  car  was 
silent,  they  could  hear  the  soft  lapping  of  the 
water  at  the  cHff  foot,  but  that  and  the  fall 
of  their  feet  on  the  short  crisp  turf  were  the 
only  sounds. 

Mr.  Burnett  peered  hard  into  the  darkness, 
but  he  could  see  absolutely  nothing.  All  at 
once  he  realised  that  they  were  getting  very 


90  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

close  to  the  brink,  and  that  if  there  were  any 
one  in  front  they  would  certainly  be  silhouetted 
against  the  sky.  There  could  not  possibly  be 
any  use  in  going  further;  why  then  did  they 
continue  to  advance?  At  that  a  clear  and 
terrifying  instinct  of  danger  seized  him.  He 
turned  round  sharply,  and  uttered  one  loud 
ringing  cry. 

He  was  looking  straight  into  the  chauf- 
feur's face,  and  it  seemed  as  though  he  were 
looking  into  his  own,  distorted  by  murderous 
intention.  Above  it  the  man's  hand  was  al- 
ready raised.  It  descended,  and  the  minister 
fell  on  the  turf  with  a  gasp.  He  knew  no  more 
of  that  night's  adventure. 


IV 

MR.   DRUMMOND's  visitor 

UPON  a  secluded  road  in  the  quiet  sub- 
urb of  Trinity  stood  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Robert  Drummond.  It  was  a  neat  un- 
pretentious httle  villa  graced  by  a  number  of 
trees  and  a  clinging  Virginia  creeper,  and  Mr. 
Drummond  was  a  neat  unpretentious  little  gen- 
tleman, graced  by  a  number  of  virtues,  and  a 
devoted  Mrs.  Drummond.  From  the  upper 
windows  of  his  house  you  could  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  castled  and  templed  hills  of  Edinburgh 
on  the  one  side,  and  the  shining  Forth  and 
green  coasts  of  Fife  on  the  other.  The  Forth, 
in  fact,  was  close  at  hand,  and  of  late  Mr. 
Drummond  had  been  greatly  entertained  by 
observing  manj^  interesting  movements  upon 
its  waters. 

He  had  looked  forward  to  exhibiting  and  ex- 
pounding these  features  to  his  friend  Mr.  Bur- 
nett, and  felt  considerably  disappointed  when 
upon  the  morning  of  the  day  when  the  minister 

91 


92  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

should  have  come,  a  telegram  arrived  instead. 
It  ran — 

"Unavoidably  prevented  from  coming  to 
stay  with  you.  Shall  explain  later.  Many 
regrets.  Don't  trouble  reply.  Leaving  home 
immediately. 

"Burnett." 

As  Mr.  Drummond  studied  this  telegram  he 
began  to  feel  not  only  disappointed  but  a  trifle 
critical. 

"Alec  Burnett  must  have  come  into  a  for- 
tune!" he  said  to  himself.  "Six  words — the 
whole  of  threepence — wasted  in  telling  me  not 
to  reply!  As  if  I'd  be  spending  my  money  on 
anything  so  foolish.  I  never  saw  such  extrav- 
agance!" 

On  the  following  morning  Mr.  Drummond 
was  as  usual  up  betimes.  He  had  retired  a 
year  or  two  before  from  a  responsible  position 
in  an  insurance  office,  but  he  still  retained  his 
active  business  habits,  and  by  eight  o'clock 
every  morning  of  the  summer  was  out  and  busy 
in  his  garden.  It  still  wanted  ten  minutes  to 
eight,  and  he  was  just  buttoning  up  his  waist- 
coat when  he  heard  the  front-door  bell  ring. 


MR.  DRUMMOND'S  VISITOR  93 

A  minute  or  two  later  the  maid  announced  that 
Mr.  Topham  was  desirous  of  seeing  Mr. 
Drummond  immediately. 

"Mr.  Topham?"  he  asked. 

*'He's  a  Navy  Officer,  sir,"  said  the  maid. 

Vaguely  perturbed,  Mr.  Drummond  hurried 
downstairs,  and  found  in  his  study  a  purpose- 
ful-looking young  man,  with  the  two  zigzag 
stripes  on  his  sleeve  of  a  lieutenant  in  the  Royal 
Naval  Reserve. 

"Mr.  Drummond?"  he  inquired. 

"The  same,"  said  Mr.  Drummond,  firmly 
yet  cautiously. 

"You  expected  a  visit  from  a  Mr.  Burnett 
yesterday,  I  believe?" 

"I  had  been  expecting  him  till  I  got  his 
wire." 

"His  wire!"  exclaimed  Lieutenant  Topham. 
"Did  he  telegraph  to  you?" 

"Yes ;  he  said  he  couldn't  come." 

"May  I  see  that  telegram?" 

Caution  had  always  been  Mr.  Drummond's 
most  valuable  asset. 

"Is  it  important?"  he  inquired. 

"Extremely,"  said  the  lieutenant  a  trifle 
brusquely. 


94>  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

Mr.  Drummond  went  to  his  desk  and  handed 
him  the  telegram.  He  could  see  Topham's 
eyebrows  rise  as  he  read  it. 

"Thank  you,"  he  said  when  he  had  finished. 
"May  I  keep  it?" 

Without  waiting  for  permission,  he  put  it 
in  his  pocket,  and  with  a  grave  air  said — 

"I  am  afraid  I  have  rather  serious  news  to 
give  you  about  Mr.  Burnett." 

"Dear  me!"  cried  Mr.  Drummond.  "It's 
not  mental  trouble,  I  hope?  That  was  a  queer 
wire  he  sent  me !" 

"He  didn't  send  you  that  wire,'*  said  Lieu- 
tenant Topham. 

"What!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Drummond. 
"Really — you  don't  say  so?    Then  who  did?" 

"That's  what  we've  got  to  find  out." 

The  lieutenant  glanced  at  the  door,  and 
added — 

"I  think  we  had  better  come  a  little  farther 
away  from  the  door." 

They  moved  to  the  farther  end  of  the  room 
and  sat  down. 

"Mr.  Burnett  has  been  knocked  on  the  head 
and  then  nearly  drowned,"  said  the  lieutenant. 


MR.  DRUMMOND'S  VISITOR  95 

Mr.  Drummond  cried  aloud  in  horror. 
Topham  made  a  warning  gesture. 

"This  is  not  to  be  talked  about  at  present," 
he  said  in  a  guarded  voice.  "The  facts  simply 
are  that  I'm  in  command  of  a  patrol-boat,  and 
last  night  we  were  off  the  Berwickshire  coast 
when  we  found  your  friend  in  the  water  with 
a  bad  wound  in  his  head  and  a  piece  of  cord 
tied  round  his  feet." 

"You  mean  some  one  had  tried  to  murder 
him?"  cried  Mr.  Drummond. 

"It  looked  rather  like  it,"  said  Topham 
drily. 

"And  him  a  minister  too!"  gasped  Mr. 
Drummond. 

"So  we  found  later." 

"But  you'd  surely  tell  that  from  his  clothes!" 

"He  had  no  clothes  when  we  found  him." 

"No  clothes  on!     Then  do  you  mean " 

"We  took  him  straight  back  to  the  base," 
continued  the  lieutenant  quickly,  "and  finally 
he  came  round  and  was  able  to  talk  a  little. 
Then  we  learned  his  name  and  heard  of  you, 
and  Captain  Blacklock  asked  me  to  run  up 
and  let  you  know  he  was  safe,  and  also  get  you 


96  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

to  check  one  or  two  of  his  statements.  Mr. 
Burnett  is  naturally  a  little  light-headed  at 
present." 

Mr.  Drummond  was  a  persistent  gentleman. 
"But  do  you  mean  you  found  him  with  no 
clothes  on  right  out  at  sea?'* 
"No;  close  under  the  cliffs." 
"Did  you  see  him  fall  into  the  water?" 
"We  heard  a  cry,  and  picked  him  up  shortly 
afterwards,"  said  the  lieutenant,  rather  evas- 
ively, Mr.  Drummond  thought.     "However, 
the  main  thing  is  that  he  will  recover  all  right. 
You  can  rest  assured  he  is  being  well  looked 
after." 

"I'd  like  to  know  more  about  this,"  said  Mr. 
Drummond  with  an  air  of  determination. 

"So  would  we,"  said  Topham  drily,  "and  I'd 
just  like  to  ask  you  one  or  two  questions,  if  I 
may.  Mr.  Burnett  was  on  his  way  to  the 
Windy  Islands,  I  believe?" 

"He  was.     He  had  got  all  his  papers  and 
everything  ready  to  start  to-night." 
"You  feel  sure  of  that?" 
"He  wrote  and  told  me  so  himself." 
Lieutenant    Topham    nodded    in    silence. 
Then  he  inquired — 


MR.  DRUMMOND'S  VISITOR  97 

"Do  you  know  a  Mr.  Taylor?" 
"Taylor?     I  know  a  John  Taylor " 


"Who  comes  from  Lancashire  and  keeps  a 
motor-car?" 

"No,"  said  Mr.  Drmnmond.  "I  don't  know 
that  one.     Why?" 

"Then  you  didn't  send  a  long  telegram  to 
Mr.  Burnett  yesterday  telling  him  that  Mr. 
Taylor  would  call  for  him  in  his  motor-car 
and  drive  him  to  your  house?" 

"Certainly  not!"  cried  Mr.  Drummond  in- 
dignantly. "I  never  sent  a  long  telegram  to 
any  one  in  my  life.  I  tell  you  I  don't  know 
anything  about  this  Mr.  Taylor  or  his  motor- 
car. If  Mr.  Burnett  told  you  that,  he's  light- 
headed indeed!" 

"Those  are  merely  the  questions  Captain 
Blacklock  asked  me  to  put,"  said  the  lieuten- 
ant soothingly. 

"Is  he  the  officer  in  command  of  the 
base?"  demanded  Mr.  Drummond  a  little 
fiercely. 

"No,"  said  Topham  briefly;  "Commander 
Blacklock  is  an  officer  on  special  service  at 
present." 

"Commander!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Drummond 


98  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

with  a  menacing  sniff.  "But  you  just  called 
him  Captain." 

"Commanders  get  the  courtesy  title  of  Cap- 
tain," explained  the  lieutenant,  rising  as  he 
spoke.  "Thank  you  very  much,  Mr.  Drum- 
mond.  There's  only  one  thing  more  I'd  like 
to  say " 

"Ay,  but  there  are  several  things  Fd  like  to 
say!"  said  Mr.  Drummond  very  firmly.  "I 
want  to  know  what's  the  meaning  of  this 
outrage  to  my  friend.  What's  your  the- 
ory?" 

Before  the  war  Lieutenant  Topham  had 
been  an  officer  in  a  passenger  liner,  but  he  had 
already  acquired  in  great  perfection  the  real 
Navy  mask. 

"It  seems  rather  mysterious,"  he  replied — 
in  a  most  unsuitably  light  and  indifferent  tone, 
Mr.  Drummond  considered. 

"But  surely  you  have  some  ideas!" 

The  Lieutenant  shook  his  head. 

"We'll  probably  get  to  the  bottom  of  it 
sooner  or  later." 

"A  good  deal  later  than  sooner,  I'm  afraid," 
said  Mr.  Drummond  severely.  "You've  in- 
formed the  police,  I  presume." 


MR.  DRUMMOND'S  VISITOR  99 

**The  affair  is  not  in  my  hands,  Mr.  Dnim- 
mond." 

"Then  whose  hands  is  it  in?" 

"I  have  not  been  consulted  on  that  point." 

Ever  since  the  war  broke  out  Mr.  Drum- 
mond's  views  concerning  the  Navy  had  been 
in  a  state  of  painful  flux.  Sometimes  he  felt 
a  genuine  pride  as  a  taxpayer  in  having  pro- 
vided himself  with  such  an  efficient  and  heroic 
service;  at  other  times  he  sadly  suspected  that 
his  money  had  been  wasted,  and  used  to  urge 
upon  all  his  acquaintance  the  strong  opinion 
that  the  Navy  should  really  "do  something" — 
and  be  quick  about  it  too ! 

Lieutenant  Topham  depressed  him  greatly. 
There  seemed  such  an  extraordinary  lack  of 
inteUigent  interest  about  the  fellow.  How 
differently  Nelson  would  have  replied! 

"Well,  there's  one  thing  I  absolutely  insist 
upon  getting  at  the  bottom  of,"  he  said  reso- 
lutely. "I  am  accused  of  sending  a  long  tele- 
gram to  Mr.  Burnett  about  a  Mr.  Taylor. 
Now  I  want  to  know  the  meaning  of  that!" 

Lieutenant  Topham  smiled,  but  his  smile 
instead  of  soothing,  merely  provoked  the  in- 
dignant householder. 


100  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"Neither  you  nor  Mr.  Burnett  are  accused 
of  sending  telegrams.  We  only  know  that 
you  received  them." 

"Then  who  sent  them,  I'd  like  to  know?" 

"That,  no  doubt,  will  appear  in  time.  I 
must  get  back  now,  Mr.  Drummond;  but  I 
must  first  ask  you  not  to  mention  a  word  to 
any  one  of  this — in  the  meantime  anyhow." 

The  householder  looked  considerably  taken 
aback.  He  had  anticipated  making  a  very 
pleasant  sensation  among  liis  friends. 

"I — er — of  course  shall  use  great  discre- 
tion  "  he  began. 

Lieutenant  Topham  shook  his  head. 

"I  am  directed  to  ask  you  to  tell  nobody ." 

"Of  course  JMrs.  Drummond " 

"Not  even  Mrs.  Drummond." 

"But  this  is  really  very  high-handed,  sir! 
Mr.  Burnett  is  a  very  old  friend  of  mine " 

The  Lieutenant  came  a  step  nearer  to  him, 
and  said  very  earnestly  and  persuasively — 

"You  have  an  opportunity,  Mr.  Drummond, 
of  doing  a  service  to  your  country  by  keeping 
absolute  silence.  We  can  trust  you  to  do  that 
for  England,  surely?" 

"For  Great  Britain,"  corrected  Mr.  Drum- 


MK.  DRUMMOND'S  VISITOR  101 

mond,  who  was  a  member  of  a  society  for  pio- 
pagating  bagpipe  music  and  of  another  for 
commemorating  Bannockburn, — "well,  yes,  if 
you  put  it  like  that — Oh,  certainly,  certainly. 
Yes,  you  can  trust  me,  Mr.  Topham.  But — 
er — what  am  I  to  say  to  Mrs.  Drummond 
about  your  visit?" 

"Say  that  I  was  sent  to  ask  you  to  keep 
your  lights  obscured,"  suggested  the  lieuten- 
ant with  a  smile. 

"Capital!"  said  the  householder.  "I've 
warned  her  several  times  about  the  pantry 
window.  That  will  kill  two  birds  with  one 
stone!" 

"Good  morning,  sir.  Thank  you  very 
much,"  said  the  lieutenant. 

Mr.  Drummond  was  left  in  a  very  divided 
state  of  mind  regarding  the  Navy's  compet- 
ence, Mr.  Burnett's  sanity,  and  his  own  judg- 
ment. 


ON  THE  MAIL  BOAT 

A  PROCESSION  came  down  the  long 
slope  at  the  head  of  the  bay.  Each  ve- 
hicle but  one  rumbled  behind  a  pair  of  leisurely 
horses.  That  one,  a  car  with  a  passenger  and 
his  luggage,  hooted  from  tail  to  head  of  the 
procession,  and  vanished  in  the  dust  towards 
the  pier.  The  sea  stretched  like  a  sheet  of 
brilliant  glass  right  out  across  the  bay  and  the 
firth  beyond  to  the  great  blue  island  hills,  calm 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  search  it;  on  the  gi-een 
treeless  shores,  with  their  dusty  roads  and  their 
dykes  of  flagstones  set  on  edge,  there  was 
scarcely  enough  breeze  to  stir  the  grasses. 
*'We  shall  have  a  fine  crossing,"  said  the  pas- 
sengers in  the  coaches  to  one  another. 

They  bent  round  the  corner  of  the  bay  and 
passed  the  little  row  of  houses,  pressed  close 
beneath  the  high  grassy  bank,  and  rumbled  on 
to  the  pier.     The  sentries  and  the  naval  guard 

102 


ON  THE  MAIL  BOAT  103 

eyed  the  passengers  with  professional  suspicion 
as  they  gathered  in  a  cue  to  show  their  pass- 
ports, and  then  gi'adually  straggled  towards 
the  mail  boat.  But  there  was  one  passenger 
who  was  particularly  eyed;  though  if  all  the 
glances  toward  her  were  prompted  by  sus- 
picion, it  was  well  concealed.  She  was  a  girl 
of  anything  from  twenty-two  to  twenty-five, 
lithe,  dressed  to  a  miracle,  dark-haired,  and 
more  than  merely  pretty.  Her  dark  eyebrows 
nearly  meeting,  her  bright  and  singularly  in- 
telligent eyes,  her  firm  mouth  and  resolute 
chin,  the  mixture  of  thoughtfulness  in  her  ex- 
pression and  decision  in  her  movements,  were 
not  the  usual  ingredients  of  prettiness.  Yet 
her  features  were  so  fine  and  her  complexion  so 
clear,  and  there  was  so  much  charm  as  well  as 
thought  in  her  expression,  that  the  whole  effect 
of  her  was  delightful.  Undoubtedly  she  was 
beautiful. 

She  was  clearly  travelling  alone,  and  evi- 
dently a  stranger  to  those  parts.  No  one  on 
the  pier  or  steamer  touched  a  hat  or  greeted 
her,  and  from  her  quick  looks  of  interest  it 
was  plain  that  everything  was  fresh  to  her. 
The  string  of  passengers  was  blocked  for  a 


104  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

moment  on  the  narrow  deck,  and  just  where 
she  paused  stood  a  tall  man  who  had  come 
aboard  a  minute  or  two  before.  He  took  his 
eyes  discreetly  off  her  face,  and  they  fell  upon 
her  bag.  There  on  the  label  he  could  plainly 
read,  "Miss  Eileen  Holland."  Then  she 
passed  on,  and  the  tall  man  kept  looking  after 
her. 

Having  piled  her  lighter  luggage  on  a  seat 
in  a  very  brisk  and  business-like  fashion.  Miss 
Holland  strolled  across  the  deck  and  leaned 
with  her  back  against  the  railings  and  her 
hands  in  the  pockets  of  her  loose  tweed  coat, 
studying  with  a  shrewd  glance  her  fellow-pass- 
engers. They  included  a  number  of  soldiers 
in  khaki,  on  leave  apparent^;  several  nonde- 
script and  uninteresting  people,  mostly  female ; 
and  the  tall  man.  At  him  she  glanced  several 
times.  He  was  very  obviously  a  clergyman  of 
some  sort,  in  the  conventional  black  felt  hat 
and  a  long  dark  overcoat;  and  yet  though  his 
face  was  not  at  all  unclerical,  it  seemed  to  her 
that  he  was  not  exactly  the  usual  type.  Then 
she  saw  his  eyes  turn  on  her  again,  and  she 
gazed  for  some  minutes  at  the  pier  just  above 
their  heads. 


ON  THE  MAIL  BOAT  105 

The  cable  was  cast  off  and  the  little  steamer 
backed  through  the  foam  of  her  own  wake,  and 
wheeling,  set  forth  for  the  Isles.  For  a  while 
Miss  Holland  watched  the  green  semicircle 
slowly  receding  astern  and  the  shining  waters 
opening  ahead,  and  then  turned  to  a  more  prac- 
tical matter.  Other  passengers  were  eyeing 
the  laden  deck-seat. 

"I'm  afraid  my  things  are  in  your  way,"  she 
said,  and  crossing  the  deck  took  up  a  bag  and 
looked  round  where  to  put  it. 

The  clergyman  was  beside  her  in  a  stride. 

"Allow  me.  I'll  stow  it  away  for  you,"  he 
said. 

He  spoke  with  a  smile,  but  with  an  air  of 
complete  decision  and  quiet  command,  and  with 
a  murmur  of  thanks  she  yielded  the  bag  almost 
automatically.  As  he  moved  off  with  it,  it 
struck  her  that  here  was  a  clergyman  appar- 
ently accustomed  to  very  prompt  obedience 
from  his  flock. 

They  had  been  standing  just  aft  of  the 
deck-house,  and  with  the  bag  in  his  hand  he 
passed  by  this  to  where  a  pile  of  lighter  lug- 
gage had  been  arranged  on  the  deck.  As  he 
went  he  looked  at  the  bag  curiously,  and  then 


106  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

before  putting  it  down  he  glanced  over  his 
shoulder.  The  lady  was  not  in  sight,  and  very 
swiftly  but  keenly  he  studied  it  more  closely. 
It  was  a  suit-case  made  of  an  unusual  brown, 
light  material.  Turning  one  end  up  quickly 
he  read  on  a  little  plate  this  assurance  by  the 
makers,  "Garantirt  echt  Vulcanfibre."  And 
then  slowly,  and  apparently  rather  thought- 
fully, he  strolled  back. 

"You'll  find  it  among  the  other  luggage, 
just  beyond  the  deck-house,"  he  said,  and  then 
with  an  air  of  sudden  thought  added,  "Per- 
haps I  ought  to  have  put  it  with  your  other 
things,  wherever  they  are." 

"I  have  practically  nothing  else,"  said  she, 
"except  a  trunk  in  the  hold." 

"You  are  travelling  very  light,"  he  re- 
marked. "That  wasn't  a  very  substantial  suit- 
case." 

For  a  moment  she  seemed  to  be  a  little 
doubtful  whether  to  consider  him  a  somewhat 
forward  stranger.  Then  she  said  with  a  frank 
smile — 

"No ;  it  was  made  in  Germany." 

As  she  spoke  he  glanced  at  her  with  a  curious 


ON  THE  MAIL  BOAT  107 

sudden  intensity,  that  might  have  been  an  or- 
dinar}^  trick  of  manner. 

"Oh,"  he  said  with  a  smile.  "Before  the 
war,  I  presume?" 

"Yes,"  she  answered  briefly,  and  looked 
round  her  as  though  wondering  whether  she 
should  move. 

But  the  clergyman  seemed  oblivious  to  the 
hint. 

"Do  you  know  Germany  well?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,"  she  said.     "Do  you?" 

He  nodded. 

"Yes,  pretty  well — as  it  was  before  the  war, 
of  course.  I  had  some  good  friends  there 
at  one  time." 

"So  had  I,"  she  said. 

"All  in  the  past  tense  now,"  said  he. 

"I  suppose  so,"  she  answered;  "yet  I  some- 
times find  it  hard  to  believe  that  they  are  all  as 
poisoned  against  England  and  as  ignorant  and 
callous  as  people  think.  I  can't  picture  some 
of  my  friends  like  that !" 

She  seemed  to  have  got  over  her  first  touch 
of  resentment.  There  was  certainly  an  air  of 
good-breeding  and  even  of  distinction  about 


108  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

the  man,  and  after  all,  his  extreme  assurance 
sat  very  naturally  on  hun.  It  had  an  unpre- 
meditated matter-of-course  quality  that  made 
it  difficult  to  remain  offended. 

"It  is  hard  to  picture  a  good  many  things," 
he  said  thoughtfully.  "Were  you  long  in  Ger- 
man}^?" 

She  told  him  two  years,  and  then  questioned 
him  in  return ;  but  he  seemed  to  have  a  gift  for 
conveying  exceedingly  little  information  with 
an  air  of  remarkable  finality — as  though  he  had 
given  a  complete  report  and  there  was  an  end 
of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  an  equal  gift 
for  putting  questions  in  a  way  that  made  it  im- 
possible not  to  answer  without  churlishness. 
For  his  manner  never  lacked  courtesy  and 
he  showed  a  flattering  interest  in  each  word  of 
her  replies.  She  felt  that  she  had  never  met  a 
man  who  had  put  her  more  on  her  mettle  and 
made  her  instinctively  wish  more  to  show  her- 
self to  advantage. 

Yet  she  seemed  fuUy  capable  of  holding  her 
own,  for  after  half  an  hour's  conversation  it 
would  have  been  remarkably  difficult  to  essay 
a  biographical  sketch  of  JMiss  Eileen  Holland. 
She  had  spent  a  number  of  years  abroad,  and 


ON  THE  MAIL  BOAT  109 

confessed  to  being  a  fair  linguist;  she  was  go- 
ing to  the  Islands  "to  stay  with  some  people" ; 
and  she  had  previously  done  "a  little"  war  work 
— so  little,  apparently,  that  she  had  been  ad- 
vised to  seek  a  change  of  air,  as  her  companion 
observed  with  a  smile. 

"Anyhow,  I  have  not  done  enough,"  she  said 
with  a  sudden  intensity  of  suppressed  feeling 
in  her  voice. 

The  keen-faced  clergyman  glanced  at  her 
quickly,  but  said  nothing.  A  minute  or  two 
later  he  announced  that  he  had  some  corre- 
spondence to  look  over,  and  thereupon  he  left 
her  with  the  same  air  of  decision  instantly  acted 
on  with  which  he  had  first  addressed  her.  He 
passed  through  the  door  of  the  deck-house,  and 
she  got  a  glimpse  of  his  head  going  down  the 
companion.  Her  face  remained  quite  com- 
posed, but  in  her  eyes  there  seemed  to  be  the 
trace  of  a  suggestion  that  she  was  unused  to 
see  gentlemen  quit  her  side  quite  so  promptly. 

A  few  minutes  later  she  went  down  herself 
to  the  ladies'  cabin.  Coming  out,  the  foot  of 
the  companion  was  immediately  opposite,  and 
beyond  stretched  the  saloon.  At  the  far  end 
of  this  sat  the  clergyman,  and  at  the  sight  of 


110  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

him  ]Miss  Holland  paused  for  a  moment  at  the 
foot  of  the  ladder  and  looked  at  him  with  a 
face  that  seemed  to  show  both  a  little  amuse- 
ment and  a  httle  wonder.  He  sat  quite  by 
himself,  with  a  bundle  of  papers  on  the  table  at 
his  elbow.  One  of  these  was  in  his  hand,  and 
he  was  reading  it  with  an  air  of  extraordinary 
concentration.  He  had  carelessly  pushed  back 
his  black  felt  hat,  and  what  arrested  her  was 
the  odd  impression  this  produced.  With  his 
hat  thus  rakishly  tilted,  all  traces  of  his  clerical 
profession  seemed  mysteriously  to  have  van- 
ished. The  white  dog-collar  was  there  all 
right,  but  unaided  it  seemed  singularly  incapa- 
ble of  making  him  into  a  conventional  minister. 
Miss  Holland  went  up  on  deck  rather  thought- 
fully. 

The  little  mail  boat  was  now  far  out  in  the 
midst  of  a  waste  of  waters.  The  ill-omened 
tideway  was  on  its  best  behaviour ;  but  even  so, 
there  was  a  constant  gentle  roll  as  the  oily 
swell  swung  in  from  the  Atlantic.  Ahead,  on 
the  starboard  bow,  loomed  the  vast  island 
precipices ;  astern  the  long  Scottish  coast  faded 
into  haze.  One  other  vessel  alone  was  to  be 
seen — a  long,  low,  black  ship  with  a  single  spike 


ON  THE  MAIL  BOAT  HI 

of  a  mast  and  several  squat  funnels  behind  it. 
An  eccentric  vessel  tliis  seemed;  for  she  first 
meandered  towards  the  mail  boat  and  then 
meandered  away  again,  with  no  visible  busi- 
ness on  the  waters. 

The  girl  moved  along  the  deck  till  she  came 
to  the  place  where  her  suit-case  had  been 
stowed.  Close  beside  it  were  two  leather  kit- 
bags,  and  as  she  paused  there  it  was  on  these 
that  her  eyes  fell.  She  looked  at  them,  in 
fact,  very  attentively.  On  each  were  the  in- 
itials "A.B.,"  and  on  their  labels  the  legend, 
"The  Rev.  Alex.  Burnett."  She  came  a  step 
nearer  and  studied  them  still  more  closely.  A 
few  old  luggage-labels  were  still  affixed,  and 
one  at  least  of  these  bore  the  word  "Berwick." 
Miss  Holland  seemed  curiously  interested  by 
her  observations. 

A  little  later  the  clergyman  reappeared,  and 
approached  her  like  an  old  acquaintance.  By 
this  time  they  were  running  close  under  the 
cliffs,  and  they  gazed  together  up  to  the  dizzy 
heights  a  thousand  feet  above  their  heads, 
where  dots  of  sea-birds  circled  hardly  to  be  dis- 
tinguished by  the  eye,  and  then  down  to  the 
green  swell  and  bursting  foam  at  the  foot  of 


112  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

that  stupendous  wall.  In  the  afternoon  sun 
it  glowed  like  a  wall  of  copper.  For  a  few 
minutes  both  were  instinctively  silent.  There 
was  nothing  to  be  said  of  such  a  spectacle. 

Then  Miss  Holland  suddenly  asked — 

"Do  you  live  near  the  sea?" 

"Not  very,"  he  answered  with  his  air  of  final- 

ity. 

But  this  time  she  persisted. 

"What  is  your  part  of  the  country?" 

"Berwickshire,"  he  said  brieflj^ 

"Do  you  happen  to  know  a  minister  there — 
a  Mr.  Burnett?"  she  inquired. 

"That  is  my  own  name,"  he  said  quietly. 

"Mr.  Alexander  Burnett?" 

He  nodded. 

"That  is  very  funny,"  she  said.  "There 
must  be  two  of  you.  I  happen  to  have  stayed 
in  those  parts  and  met  the  other." 

There  seemed  to  be  no  expression  at  all  in  his 
eyes  as  they  met  hers ;  nor  did  hers  reveal  any- 
thing. Then  he  looked  round  them  quietly. 
There  were  several  passengers  not  far  away. 

"It  would  be  rather  pleasant  in  the  bows," 
he  suggested.  "Shall  we  move  along  there  for 
a  little?" 


ON  THE  MAIL  BOAT  11^ 

He  made  the  proposal  very  courteously,  and 
yet  it  sounded  almost  as  much  a  command  as 
a  suggestion,  and  he  began  to  move  even  as  he 
spoke.  She  started  too,  and  exchanging  a 
casual  sentence  as  they  went,  they  made  their 
way  forward  till  they  stood  together  in  the 
very  prow  with  the  bow  wave  beneath  their 
feet,  and  the  air  beating  cold  upon  their  faces, 
— a  striking  solitary  couple. 

"I'm  wondering  if  yon's  a  married  meenis- 
ter!"  said  one  of  their  fellow-passengers — a 
facetious  gentleman. 

"It's  no'  his  wife,  anyhow!"  grinned  his 
friend. 

A  little  later  the  wit  wondered  again. 

"I'm  wondering  how  long  thae  two  are  gaun 
tae  stand  there!"  he  said  this  time. 

The  cliffs  fell  and  a  green  sound,  opened. 
The  mail  boat  turned  into  the  sound,  opening 
inland  prospects  all  the  while.  A  snug  bay 
followed  the  sound,  with  a  little  grey-gabled 
town  clinging  to  the  very  wash  of  the  tide,  and 
a  host  of  little  vessels  in  the  midst.  Into  the 
bay  pounded  the  mail  boat  and  up  towards  the 
town,  and  only  then  did  the  gallant  minister 
and  his  fair  acquaintance  stroll  back  from  the 


114  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

bows.  The  wag  and  his  friend  looked  at  them 
curiously,  but  they  had  to  admit  that  such  a 
prolonged  flirtation  had  seldom  left  fewer  visi- 
ble traces.  They  might  have  been  brother 
and  sister,  they  both  looked  so  indifferent. 

The  gangway  shot  aboard,  and  with  a  brief 
hand-shake  the  pair  parted.  A  few  minutes 
later  Miss  Holland  was  being  greeted  by  an 
elderly  gentleman  in  a  heavy  ulster,  whilst  the 
minister  was  following  a  porter  towards  a 
small  waggonette. 


VI 

THE  VANISHING  GOVERNESS 

THE  house  of  Breck  was  a  mansion  of  tol- 
erable antiquity  as  mansions  went  in  the 
islands,  and  several  curious  stories  had  already 
had  time  to  encrust  it,  like  lichen  on  an  aged 
wall.  But  none  of  them  were  stranger  than 
the  quite  up-to-date  and  literally  true  story  of 
the  vanishing  governess. 

Richard  Craigie,  Esq.,  of  Breck,  the  popu- 
lar, and  more  or  less  respected,  laird  of  the 
mansion  and  estate,  was  a  stout  grey-bearded 
gentleman,  with  a  twinkling  blue  eye,  and  one 
of  the  easiest-going  dispositions  probably  in 
Europe.  His  wife,  the  respected,  and  more  or 
less  popular,  mistress  of  the  mansion,  was  lean 
and  short,  and  very  energetic.  Their  sons 
were  employed  at  present  like  everybody  else's 
sons,  and  do  not  concern  this  narrative.  But 
their  two  daughters,  aged  fifteen  and  fourteen, 
were  at  home,  and  do  concern  it  materially. 

115 


116  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

It  was  only  towards  the  end  of  July  that 
Mrs.  Craigie  thought  of  having  a  governess 
for  the  two  gu'ls  during  the  summer  holidays. 
With  a  letter  in  her  hand,  she  bustled  into  Mr. 
Craigie's  smoking-room,  and  announced  that 
her  friend  Mrs.  Armitage,  in  Kensington, 
knew  a  lady  who  knew  a  charming  and  well- 
educated  girl — 

"And  who  does  she  know?"  interrupted  her 
husband. 

"Nobody,"  said  Mrs.  Craigie.  "She  is  the 
girl." 

"Oh!"  said  the  laird.  "Now  I  thought  that 
she  would  surely  know  another  girl  who  knows 
a  woman,  who  knows  a  man " 

"Richard!"  said  his  wife.  "Kindly  listen  to 
me!" 

It  had  been  her  fate  to  marry  a  confirmed 
domestic  humourist,  but  she  bore  her  burden 
stoically.  She  told  him  now  simply  and  firmly 
that  the  girl  in  question  required  a  holiday,  and 
that  she  proposed  to  give  her  one,  and  in  re- 
turn extract  some  teaching  and  supervision  for 
their  daughters. 

"Have  it  your  own  way,  my  dear.  Have 
it  your  own.  way,"  said  he.     "It  was  economy 


THE  VANISHING  GOVERNESS        IIT 

yesterday.  It's  a  governess  to-day.  Have 
you  forced  the  safe?" 

"Which  safe?"  demanded  the  unsuspecting 
lady. 

"At  the  bank.  IVe  no  more  money  of  my 
own,  I  can  tell  you.  However,  send  for  your 
governess — get  a  couple  of  them  as  you're  at 
it!" 

The  humourist  was  clearly  so  pleased  with 
his  jest  that  no  further  debate  was  to  be  ap- 
prehended, and  his  wife  went  out  to  write  the 
letter.  Mr.  Craigie  lit  his  sixteenth  pipe  since 
breakfast  and  chewed  the  cud  of  his  wit  very 
happily. 

A  fortnight  later  he  returned  one  evening  in 
the  car,  bringing  Miss  Eileen  Holland  with 
her  trunk  and  her  brown  suit-case. 

"My  hat,  Selina!"  said  he  to  his  wife,  as  soon 
as  the  girls  had  led  Miss  Holland  out  of  hear- 
ing, "that's  the  kind  of  governess  for  me !  You 
don't  mind  my  telling  her  to  call  me  Dick,  do 
you?  It  slipped  out  when  she  was  squeezing 
my  hand." 

"I  don't  mind  you're  being  undignified,"  re- 
plied Mrs.  Craigie  in  a  chilly  voice,  "but  I  do 
wish  you  wouldn't  be  vulgar." 


118  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

As  Mr.  Craigie's  chief  joys  in  life  were  en- 
tertaining his  daughters  and  getting  a  rise  out 
of  his  wife,  and  as  he  also  had  a  verj^  genuine 
admiration  for  a  pretty  face,  he  was  in  the 
seventh  heaven  of  happiness,  and  remained 
there  for  the  next  three  days.  Pipe  in  mouth, 
he  invaded  the  schoolroom  constantly  and  un- 
seasonably, and  reduced  his  daughters  to  a 
state  of  incoherent  giggling  by  retailing  to 
Miss  Holland  various  ingenious  schemes  for 
their  corporal  punishment,  airing  humorous 
fragments  of  a  language  he  called  French,  and 
questioning  their  instructor  on  supposititious 
romantic  episodes  in  her  career.  He  thought 
Miss  Holland  hardly  laughed  as  much  as  she 
ought ;  still,  she  was  a  fine  girl. 

At  table  he  kept  his  wife  continually  scan- 
dalised by  his  jocularities;  such  as  hoarsely 
whispering,  "I've  lost  my  half  of  the  sixpence. 
Miss  Holland,"  or  repeating,  with  a  thought- 
ful air,  "Under  the  apple-tree  when  the  moon 
rises — I  must  try  and  not  forget  the  hour!" 
Miss  Holland  was  even  less  responsive  to  these 
sallies,  but  he  enjoyed  them  enormously  him- 
self, and  still  maintained  she  was  a  fine  girl. 

JNIrs.  Craigie's  opinion  of  her  new  acquisition 


THE  VANISHING  GOVERNESS        119 

was  only  freely  expressed  afterwards,  and  then 
she  declared  that  clever  though  Miss  Holland 
undoubtedly  was,  and  superior  though  she 
seemed,  she  had  always  suspected  that  some- 
thing was  a  little  wrong  somewhere.  She  and 
Mr.  Craigie  had  used  considerable  influence 
and  persuasion  to  obtain  a  passport  for  her, 
and  why  should  they  have  been  called  upon  ..d 
do  this  (by  a  lady  whom  Mrs.  Armitage  ad- 
mitted she  had  only  met  twice) ,  simply  to  give 
a  change  of  air  to  a  healthy-looking  girl? 
There  was  something  behind  that.  Besides, 
Miss  Holland  was  just  a  trifle  too  good-look- 
ing.    That  type  always  had  a  history. 

"My  wife  was  plain  Mrs.  Craigie  before  tHe 
thing  happened,"  observed  her  husband  with  a 
twinkle,  "but,  dash  it,  she's  been  Mrs.  Solo- 
mon ever  since !" 

It  was  on  the  fourth  morning  of  Miss  Hol- 
land's visit  that  the  telegram  came  for  her. 
Mr.  Craigie  himself  brought  it  into  the  school- 
room and  delivered  it  with  much  facetious  mys- 
tery. He  noticed  that  it  seemed  to  contain  a 
message  of  some  importance,  and  that  she 
failed  to  laugh  at  all  when  he  offered  wag- 
gishly to  put  "him"  up  for  the  night.     'But 


120  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

she  simply  put  it  in  her  pocket  and  volunteered 
no  explanation.  He  went  away  feeling  that 
he  had  wasted  a  happy  quip. 

After  lunch  Mrs.  Craigie  and  the  girls  were 
going  out  in  the  car,  and  Miss  Holland  was 
to  have  accompanied  them.  It  was  then  that 
she  made  her  only  reference  to  the  telegram. 
?he  had  got  a  wire,  she  said,  and  had  a  long 
letter  to  write,  and  so  begged  to  be  excused. 
Accordingly  the  car  went  off  without  her. 

Not  five  minutes  later  Mr.  Craigie  was 
smoking  a  pipe  and  trying  to  sunmion  up  en- 
ergy to  go  for  a  stroll,  when  Miss  Holland 
entered  the  smoking-room.  He  noticed  that 
she  had  never  looked  so  smiling  and  charming. 

"Oh,  Mr.  Craigie,"  she  said,  "I  want  you 
to  help  me.     I'm  preparing  a  little  surprise!" 

"For  the  girls?" 

"For  all  of  you!" 

The  laird  loved  a  practical  jest,  and  scented 
happiness  at  once. 

"I'm  your  man!"  said  he.  "What  can  I  do 
for  you?" 

"I'll  come  down  again  in  half  an  hour,"  said 
she.  "And  then  I  want  you  to  help  me  to 
carry  something." 


THE  VANISHING  GOVERNESS        121 

She  gave  him  a  swift  bewitching  smile  that 
left  him  entirely  helpless,  and  hurried  from 
the  room. 

INIr.  Craigie  looked  at  the  clock  and  decided 
that  he  would  get  his  stroll  into  the  half-hour, 
so  he  took  his  stick  and  sauntered  down  the 
drive.  On  one  side  of  this  drive  was  a  line  of 
huddled  wind-bent  trees,  and  at  the  end  was  a 
gate  opening  on  the  highroad,  with  the  sea 
close  at  hand.  Just  as  he  got  to  the  gate  a 
stranger  appeared  upon  the  road,  walking  very 
slowly,  and  up  to  that  moment  concealed  by  the 
trees.  He  was  a  clergyman,  tall,  clean- 
shaved,  and  with  what  the  laird  afterwards  de- 
scribed as  a  "hawky  kind  of  look." 

There  was  no  haughtiness  whatever  about 
the  laird  of  Breck.  He  accosted  ever}'^  one  he 
met,  and  always  in  the  friendliest  way. 

"A  fine  day!"  said  he  heartily.  "Grand 
weather  for  the  crops,  if  we  could  just  get  a 
wee  bit  more  of  rain  soon." 

The  clergj^man  stopped. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  he,  "it  is  fine  weather." 

His  manner  was  polite,  but  not  very  hearty, 
the  laird  thought.  However,  he  was  not  eas- 
ily damped,  and  proceeded  to  contribute  sev- 


122  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

eral  more  observations,  chiefly  regarding  the 
weather  prospects,  and  tending  to  become  rap- 
idly humorous.  And  then  he  remembered  his 
appointment  in  the  smoking-room. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "good  day  to  you!  I  must 
be  moving,  I'm  afraid." 

"Good  day,"  said  the  stranger  courteously, 
and  moved  off  promptly  as  he  spoke. 

"I  wonder  who  will  that  minister  be?"  said 
Mr.  Craigie  to  himself  as  he  strolled  back. 
"It's  funny  I  never  saw  the  man  before.  And 
I  wonder,  too,  where  he  was  going?" 

And  then  it  occurred  to  him  as  an  odd  cir- 
cumstance that  the  minister  had  started  to  go 
back  again,  not  to  continue  as  he  had  been 
walking. 

"That's  a  funny  thing,"  he  thought. 

He  had  hardly  got  back  to  his  smoking-room 
when  Miss  Holland  appeared,  dressed  to  go 
out,  in  hat  and  tweed  coat,  and  dragging,  of 
all  things,  her  brown  suit-case.  It  seemed  to 
be  heavily  laden. 

She  smiled  at  him  confidentially,  as  one  fel- 
low-conspirator at  another. 

"Do  you  mind  giving  me  a  hand  with  this?" 
said  she. 


THE  VANISHING  GOVERNESS        123 

"Hullo !"  cried  the  laird.  "What's  this— an 
elopement?  Can  you  not  wait  till  I  pack  my 
things  too?  The  minister's  in  no  hurry.  I've 
just  been  speaking  to  him." 

It  struck  him  that  Miss  Holland  took  his 
jest  rather  seriously. 

"The  minister?"  said  she  in  rather  an  odd 
voice.     "You've  spoken  to  him?" 

"He  was  only  asking  if  I  had  got  the 
license,"  winked  INIr.  Craigie. 

The  curious  look  passed  from  her  face,  and 
she  laughed  as  pleasantly  as  he  could  wish. 

"I'll  take  the  bag  myself,"  said  the  laird. 
"Oh,  it's  no  weight  for  me.  I  used  to  be  rather 
a  dab  at  throwing  the  hammer  in  my  day.  But 
where  am  I  to  take  it?" 

"I'll  show  you,"  said  she. 

So  out  they  set,  Mr.  Craigie  carrying  the 
suit-case,  and  Miss  Holland  in  the  most  de- 
lightful humour  beside  him.  He  felt  he  could 
have  carried  it  for  a  very  long  way.  She  led 
him  through  the  garden  and  out  into  a  side  lane 
between  the  wall  and  a  hedge. 

"Just  put  it  down  here,"  she  said.  "And 
now  I  want  you  to  come  back  for  something 
else,  if  you  don't  mind." 


124  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"Mind  ?"  said  the  laird  gallantly.  "Not  me ! 
But  I'm  wondering  what  you  are  driving  at." 

She  only  smiled,  but  from  her  merry  eye  he 
felt  sure  that  some  very  brilliant  jest  was  afoot, 
and  he  joked  away  pleasantly  as  they  returned 
to  the  house. 

"Now,"  she  said,  "do  you  mind  waiting  in 
the  smoking-room  for  ten  minutes  or  so?" 

She  went  out,  and  Mr.  Craigie  waited,  mys- 
tified but  happy.  He  waited  for  ten  minutes ; 
he  waited  for  twenty,  he  waited  for  half  an 
hour,  and  still  there  was  no  sign  of  the  fascin- 
ating Miss  Holland.  And  then  he  sent  a  ser- 
vant to  look  for  her.  Her  report  gave  Mr. 
Craigie  the  strongest  sensation  that  had  stirred 
that  good-natured  humourist  for  many  a  day. 
Miss  Holland  was  not  in  her  room,  and  no 
more,  apparently,  were  her  belongings.  The 
toilette  table  was  stripped,  the  wardrobe  was 
empty;  in  fact,  the  only  sign  of  her  was  her 
trunk,  strapped  and  locked. 

Moving  with  exceptional  velocity,  Mr. 
Craigie  made  straight  for  the  lane  beyond  the 
garden.  The  brown  suit-case  had  disap- 
peared. 


THE  VANISHING  GOVERNESS        125 

"Well,  I'm  jiggered!"  murmured  the  baf- 
fled humourist. 

Very  slowly  and  soberly  he  returned  to  the 
house,  lit  a  fresh  pipe,  and  steadied  his  nerves 
with  a  glass  of  grog.  When  Mrs.  Craigie  re- 
turned, she  found  him  sufficiently  revived  to 
jest  again,  though  in  a  minor  key. 

"To  think  of  the  girl  having  the  impudence 
to  make  me  carry  her  luggage  out  of  the  house 
for  her!"  said  he.  "Gad,  but  it  was  a  clever 
dodge  to  get  clear  with  no  one  suspecting  her ! 
Well,  anyhow,  my  reputation  is  safe  again  at 
last,  Selina." 

"Your  reputation!"  replied  Mrs.  Craigie  in 
a  withering  voice.  "For  what?  Not  for 
common-sense  anyhow!" 

"You're  flustered,  my  dear,"  said  the  laird 
easily.  "It's  a  habit  women  get  into  terrible 
easy.  You  should  learn  a  lesson  from  Miss 
Eileen  Holland.  Dashed  if  I  ever  met  a 
cooler  hand  in  my  life!" 

"And  what  do  you  mean  to  do  about  it?" 
demanded  his  wife. 

"Do?"  asked  Mr.  Craigie,  mildly  surprised. 
"Well,  we  might  leave  the  pantry  window 


126  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

open  at  night,  so  that  she  can  get  in  again  if 
she's  wanting  to;  or " 

"It's  your  duty  to  inform  the  authorities, 
Richard  I" 

"Duty?"  repeated  the  laird,  still  more  sur- 
prised. "Fancy  me  starting  to  do  my  duty 
at  my  time  of  life!" 

"Anyhow,"  cried  Mrs.  Craigie,  "we've  still 
got  her  trunk !" 

"Ah,"  said  Mr.  Craigie,  happily  at  last,  "so 
we  have!     Well,  that's  all  right  then." 

And  with  a  benign  expression  the  philoso- 
pher contentedly  lit  another  pipe. 


This  completes  the  facts  to  be  gleaned  from 
the  Secret  Service  records  concerning  the  ear- 
lier stages  of  the  story;  or  rather,  from  such  of 
those  records  as  the  Editor  obtained  access  to. 
He  would  like  to  take  the  opportunity  of  again 
thanking  the  official  who  ran  considerable  risk 
of  departmental  censure  in  procuring  this  in- 
formation. The  story  is  now  resumed  by 
Lieutenant  von  Belke. 


PART  III 

LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE'S  NAR- 
RATIVE RESUMED 


PART  III 

LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE'S  NAR- 
RATIVE RESUMED 


THE  MEETING 

AS  the  dusk  rapidly  thickened  and  I  lay  in 
the  heather  waiting  for  the  signal,  I  gave 
myself  one  last  bit  of  good  advice.  Of  "him" 
I  was  to  meet,  I  had  received  officially  a  pretty 
accm-ate  description,  and  unofficially  heard 
one  or  two  curious  stories.  I  had  also,  of 
course,  had  my  exact  relationship  to  him  offi- 
cially defined.  I  was  to  be  under  his  orders, 
generally  speaking;  but  in  purely  naval  mat- 
ters, or  at  least  on  matters  of  naval  detail,  my 
judgment  would  be  accepted  by  him.  My  last 
word  of  advice  to  myself  simply  was  to  be  per- 
fectly firm  on  any  such  point,  and  permit  no 
scheme  to  be  set  afoot,  however  tempting,  un- 

129 


150  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

less  it  was  thoroughly  practical  from  the  naval 
point  of  view. 

From  the  rim  of  my  hollow  there  on  the  hill- 
side I  could  see  several  of  the  farms  below  me, 
as  well  as  the  manse,  and  I  noted  one  little  sign 
of  British  efficiency — no  glimmer  of  light 
shone  from  any  of  their  windows.  At  sea  a 
light  or  two  twinkled  intermittently,  and  a 
searchlight  was  playing,  though  fortunately 
not  in  my  direction.  Otherwise  land  and 
water  were  alike  plunged  in  darkness.  And 
then  at  last  one  single  window  of  the  manse 
glowed  red  for  an  instant.  A  few  seconds 
passed,  and  it  shone  red  again.  Finally  it 
showed  a  brighter  yellow  light  twice  in  swift 
succession. 

I  rose  and  very  carefully  led  my  cycle  over 
the  heather  down  to  the  road,  and  then,  still 
pushing  it,  walked  quickly  down  the  steep  hill 
to  where  the  side  road  turned  off.  There  was 
not  a  sound  save  my  footfall  as  I  approached 
the  house.  A  dark  mass  loomed  in  front  of 
me,  which  I  saw  in  a  moment  to  be  a  garden 
wall  with  a  few  of  the  low  wind-bent  island 
trees  showing  above  it.  This  side  road  led 
right  up  to  an  iron  gate  in  the  wall,  and  just  as 


THE  MEETING  131 

I  got  close  enough  to  distinguish  the  hars,  I 
heard  a  gentle  creak  and  saw  them  begin  to 
swing  open.  Beyond,  the  trees  overarched  the 
drive,  and  the  darkness  was  profound.  I  had 
passed  between  the  gate-posts  before  I  saw 
or  heard  anything  more.  And  then  a  quiet 
voice  spoke. 

"It  is  a  dark  night,"  it  said  in  perfect  Eng- 
lish. 

"Dark  as  pitch,"  I  answered. 

"It  was  darker  last  night,"  said  the  voice. 

"It  is  dark  enough,"  I  answered. 

Not  perhaps  a  very  remarkable  conversa- 
tion, you  may  think;  but  I  can  assure  you 
my  fingers  were  on  my  revolver,  just  in  case 
one  single  word  had  been  different.  Now  I 
breathed  freely  at  last. 

"Herr  Tiel?"  I  inquired. 

"Mr.  Tiel,"  corrected  the  invisible  man  be- 
side me. 

I  saw  him  then  for  the  first  time  as  he 
stepped  out  from  the  shelter  of  the  trees  and 
closed  the  gate  behind  me — a  tall  dim  figure  in 
black. 

"I'U  lead  your  cycle,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice, 
as  he  came  back  to  me;  "I  know  the  way  best." 


132  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

He  took  it  from  me,  and  as  we  walked  side 
by  side  towards  the  house  he  said — 

"Permit  me,  Mr.  Belke,  to  give  you  one  lit- 
tle word  of  caution.  While  you  are  here,  for- 
get that  you  can  talk  German !  Think  in  Eng- 
lish, if  j^ou  can.  We  are  walking  on  a  tight- 
rope, not  on  the  pavement.  No  precaution  is 
excessive!" 

"1  understand,"  I  said  briefly. 

There  was  in  his  voice,  perfectly  courteous 
though  it  was,  a  note  of  command  which  made 
one  instinctively  reply  briefly — and  obediently. 
I  felt  disposed  to  be  favourably  impressed 
with  my  ally. 

He  left  me  standing  for  a  moment  in  the 
drive  while  he  led  my  motor-cycle  round  to 
some  shed  at  the  back,  and  then  we  entered 
the  house  by  the  front  door. 

"My  servant  doesn't  spend  the  night  here," 
he  explained,  "so  we  are  safe  enough  after 
dark,  as  long  as  we  make  no  sound  that  can 
be  heard  outside." 

It  was  pitch-dark  inside,  and  only  when  he 
had  closed  and  bolted  the  front  door  behind 
us,  did  Tiel  flash  his  electric  torch.  Then  I 
saw  that  we  stood  in  a  small  porch  which 


THE  MEETING  133 

opened  into  a  little  hall,  with  a  staircase  facing 
us,  and  a  passage  opening  beside  it  into  the 
back  of  the  house.  At  either  side  was  a  door, 
and  Tie]  opened  that  on  the  right  and  led  me 
into  a  pleasant,  low,  lamp-lit  room  with  a 
bright  peat  fire  blazing  and  a  table  laid  for 
supper.  I  learned  afterwards  that  the  clergy- 
man who  had  just  vacated  the  parish  had  left 
hurriedly,  and  that  his  books  and  furniture  had 
not  yet  followed  him.  Hence  the  room,  and 
indeed  the  whole  house,  looked  habitable  and 
comfortable. 

"This  is  the  place  I  have  been  looking  for 
for  a  long  time!"  I  cried  cheerfully,  for  indeed 
it  made  a  pleasant  contrast  to  a  ruinous  farm 
or  the  interior  of  a  submarine. 

Tiel  smiled.  He  had  a  pleasant  smile,  but 
it  generally  passed  from  his  face  very  swiftly, 
and  left  his  expression  cool,  alert,  composed, 
and  a  trifle  dominating. 

"You  had  better  take  off  your  overalls  and 
begin,"  he  said.  "There  is  an  English  warn- 
ing against  conversation  between  a  full  man 
and  a  fasting.     I  have  had  supper  already." 

When  I  took  off  my  overalls,  I  noticed  that 
he  gave  me  a  quick  look  of  surprise. 


lU  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"In  uniform!"  he  exclaimed. 

"It  may  not  be  much  use  if  I'm  caught,"  I 
laughed,  "but  I  thought  it  a  precaution  worth 
taking." 

"Excellent!"  he  agreed,  and  he  seemed  gen- 
uinely pleased.  "It  was  very  well  thought  of. 
Do  you  drink  whisky-and-soda?" 

"You  have  no  beer?" 

He  smiled  and  shook  his  head. 

"I  am  a  Scottish  divine,"  he  said,  "and  I  am 
afraid  my  guests  must  submit  to  whisky. 
Even  in  these  httle  details  it  is  well  to  be  cor- 
rect." 

For  the  next  half-hour  there  was  little  con- 
versation. To  tell  you  the  truth  I  was  nearly 
famished,  and  had  something  better  to  do  than 
talk.  Tiel  on  his  part  opened  a  newspaper, 
and  now  and  then  read  extracts  aloud.  It  was 
an  English  newspaper,  of  course,  and  I 
laughed  once  or  twice  at  its  items.  He  smiled 
too,  but  he  did  not  seem  much  given  to  laugh- 
ter. And  all  the  while  I  took  stock  of  my  new 
acquaintance  very  carefully. 

In  appearance  Adolph  Tiel  was  just  as  he 
had  been  described  to  me,  and  very  much  as 
my  imagination  had  filled  in  the  picture:  a 


THE  MEETING  135 

man  tall,  though  not  very  tall,  clean-shaved, 
rather  thin,  decidedly  English  in  his  general 
aspect,  distinctly  good-looking,  with  hair  be- 
ginning to  turn  grey,  and  cleverness  marked 
clearly  in  his  face.  What  I  had  not  been  quite 
prepared  for  was  his  air  of  good-breeding  and 
authority.  Not  that  there  was  any  real  reason 
why  these  qualities  should  have  been  absent, 
but  as  a  naval  officer  of  a  country  whose  mili- 
tary services  have  pretty  strong  prejudices,  I 
had  scarcely  expected  to  find  in  a  secret-service 
agent  quite  this  air. 

Also  what  I  had  heard  of  Tiel  had  prepared 
me  to  meet  a  gentleman  in  whom  cleverness 
was  more  conspicuous  than  dignity.  Even 
those  who  professed  to  know  something  about 
him  had  admitted  that  he  was  a  bit  of  a  mys- 
tery. He  was  said  to  come  either  from  Alsace 
or  Lorraine,  and  to  be  of  mixed  parentage  and 
the  most  cosmopolitan  experience.  One  story 
had  it  that  he  serv^ed  at  one  period  of  his  very 
diverse  career  in  the  navy  of  a  certain  South 
American  State,  and  this  story  I  very  soon 
came  to  the  conclusion  was  correct,  for  he 
showed  a  considerable  knowledge  of  naval  af- 
fairs.    Even  when  he  professed  ignorance  of 


136  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

certain  points,  I  was  inclined  to  suspect  he  was 
simply  trying  to  throw  doubt  upon  the  reports 
which  he  supposed  I  had  heard,  for  rumour 
also  said  that  he  had  quitted  the  service  of  his 
adopted  country  under  circumstances  which 
reflected  more  credit  on  his  brains  than  his  hon- 
esty. 

In  fact,  my  informants  were  agreed  that 
Herr  Tiel's  brains  were  very  remarkable  in- 
deed, and  that  his  nerve  and  address  were 
equal  to  his  ability.  He  was  undoubtedly 
very  completely  in  the  confidence  of  my  own 
Government,  and  I  could  mention  at  least  two 
rather  serious  mishaps  that  had  befallen  Eng- 
land which  were  credited  to  him  by  people  who 
certainly  ought  to  have  known  the  facts. 

Looking  at  him  attentively  as  he  sat  before 
the  fire  studying  The  Scotsman  (the  latest  pa- 
per to  be  obtained  in  those  parts) ,  I  thought 
to  myself  that  here  was  a  man  I  should  a  very 
great  deal  sooner  have  on  my  side  than  against 
me.  If  ever  I  had  seen  a  wolf  in  sheep's 
clothing,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  beheld  one 
now  in  the  person  of  Adolph  Tiel,  attired  as  a 
Scottish  clergyman,  reading  a  sohd  Scottish 
newspaper  over  the  peat  fire  of  this  remote 


THE  MEETING  137 

and  peaceful  manse.  And,  to  complete  the 
picture,  there  sat  I  arrayed  in  a  German  naval 
uniform,  with  the  unsuspecting  Grand  Fleet 
on  the  other  side  of  those  shuttered  and  cur- 
tained windows.  The  piquancj^  of  the  whole 
situation  struck  me  so  forcibly  that  I  laughed 
aloud. 

Tiel  looked  up  and  laid  down  his  paper,  and 
his  eyebrows  rose  inquiringly.  He  was  not  a 
man  who  wasted  many  words. 

"We  are  a  nice  pair!"  I  exclaimed. 

I  seemed  to  read  approval  of  my  spii'it  in  his 
eye. 

"You  seem  none  the  worse  of  yom*  adven- 
tures," he  said  with  a  smile. 

"No  thanks  to  you!"  I  laughed. 

Again  he  gave  me  that  keen  look  of  inquiry. 

"I  landed  on  this  infernal  island  last  night!" 
I  explained. 

"The  deuce  you  did !"  said  he.  "I  was  afraid 
you  might,  but  as  things  turned  out  I  couldn't 
get  here  sooner.  What  did  you  do  with  your- 
self?" 

"First  give  me  one  of  those  cigars,"  I  said, 
"and  then  I'll  tell  you." 

He  handed  me  the  box  of  cigars  and  I  di-ew 


138  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

up  an  easy-chair  on  the  other  side  of  the  fire. 
And  then  I  told  him  my  adventures,  and  as  I 
was  not  unwilhng  that  this  redoubtable  ad- 
venturer should  see  that  he  had  a  not  vrholly 
unworthy  accomplice,  I  told  them  in  pretty 
full  detail.  He  was  an  excellent  listener,  I 
must  say  that  for  him.  With  an  amused  yet 
appreciative  smile,  putting  in  now  and  then  a 
question  shrewd  and  to  the  point,  he  heard  my 
tale  to  the  end.  And  then  he  said  in  a  quiet 
manner  which  I  already  realised  detracted 
nothing  from  the  value  of  his  approval — 

"You  did  remarkably  well,  Mr.  Belke.  I 
congratulate  you." 

"Thank  you,  Mr.  Tiel,"  I  replied.  "And 
now  may  I  ask  you  your  adventures?" 

"Certainly,"  said  he.  "I  owe  you  an  ex- 
planation." 


II 

tiel's  story 

*'TTOW    much    do    ^^ou    know    of    our 

JL  X   scheme?"  asked  Tiel. 

I  shrugged  my  shoulders. 

"Merely  that  you  were  going  to  impersonate 
a  clergyman  who  was  due  to  come  here  and 
preach  this  next  Sunday.  How  you  were  go- 
ing to  achieve  this  feat  I  wasn't  told." 

He  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and  sucked  at 
his  pipe,  and  then  he  began  his  stoiy  with  a 
curious  detached  air,  as  though  he  were  sur- 
vejnng  his  own  handiwork  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  impartial  connoisseur. 

"The  idea  was  distinctly  ingenious,"  said  he, 
"and  I  think  I  may  also  venture  to  claim  for 
it  a  little  originality.  I  won't  trouble  you  with 
the  machinery  by  which  we  learn  things.  It's 
enough  to  mention  that  among  the  little  things 
we  did  learn  was  the  fact  that  the  minister  of 
this  parish  had  left  for  another  charge,  and 
that  the  parishioners  were  choosing  his  suc- 

139 


140  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

cessor  after  the  Scottish  custom — by  hearing  a 
number  of  candidates  each  preach  a  trial  ser- 
mon." He  broke  off  and  asked,  "Do  you  hap- 
pen to  have  heard  of  Schumann?" 

"You  don't  mean  the  great  Schumann?" 

"I  mean  a  certain  gentleman  engaged  in  the 
same  quiet  line  of  business  as  myself.  He  is 
known  of  course  under  another  name  in  Eng- 
land, where  he  is  considered  a  very  fine  speci- 
men of  John  Bull  at  his  best — a  jovial,  talk- 
ative, commercial  gentleman  with  nice  spec- 
tacles like  Mr.  Pickwick,  who  subscribes  to  all 
the  war  charities  and  is  never  tired  of  telling 
his  friends  what  he  would  do  with  the  Kaiser 
if  he  caught  him." 

I  laughed  aloud  at  this  happy  description 
of  a  typical  John  Bull. 

"Well,"  he  continued,  "I  suggested  to  Schu- 
mann the  wild  idea — as  it  seemed  to  us  at  first 
— of  getting  into  the  islands  in  the  guise  of 
a  candidate  for  the  parish  of  Myredale.  Two 
days  later  Schumann  came  to  me  with  his  spec- 
tacles twinkling  with  excitement. 

"  *Look  at  this!'  said  he. 

"He  showed  me  a  photograph  in  an  illus- 
trated paper.     It  was  the  portrait  of  a  certain 


TIEL'S  STORY  141 

Mr.  Alexander  Burnett,  minister  of  a  parish 
in  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  I  assure  you  that 
if  the  name  *Adolph  Tiel'  had  been  printed 
underneath,  none  of  my  friends  would  have 
questioned  its  being  my  own  portrait. 

"  'The  stars  are  fighting  for  us!'  said  Schu- 
mann. 

"  'They  seem  ready  to  enlist,'  I  agreed. 

*'  'How  shall  we  encourage  them?'  said  he. 

"  'I  shall  let  you  know  to-morrow,'  I  said. 

"I  went  home  and  thought  over  the  prob- 
lem. From  the  first  I  was  convinced  that  the 
only  method  which  gave  us  a  chance  of  success 
was  for  this  man  Burnett  to  enter  voluntarily 
as  a  candidate,  make  all  the  arrangements  him- 
self— including  the  vital  matter  of  a  passport 
— and  finally  start  actually  upon  his  journey. 
Otherwise,  no  attempt  to  impersonate  him 
seemed  to  me  to  stand  any  chance  of  success. 

"Next  day  I  saw  Schumann  and  laid  down 
these  conditions,  and  we  set  about  making 
preliminary  inquiries.  They  were  distinctly 
promising.  Burnett's  parish  was  a  poor  one, 
and  from  what  we  could  gather,  he  had  abeady 
been  thinking  for  some  time  past  of  making 
a  change. 


il42  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

*'We  began  by  sending  him  anonymously  a 
paper  containing  a  notice  of  the  vacancy  here. 
That  of  course  was  just  to  set  him  thinking 
about  it.  The  next  Sunday  Schumann  mo- 
tored down  to  his  parish,  saw  for  himself  that 
the  resemblance  to  me  was  actually  quite  re- 
markable, and  then  after  service  made  the 
minister's  acquaintance.  Imagine  the  good 
Mr.  Burnett's  surprise  and  interest  when  this 
pleasant  stranger  proved  to  be  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  vacant  parish  of  Myredale, 
and  described  it  as  a  second  Garden  of  Eden! 
Before  they  parted  Schumann  saw  that  the 
fish  was  hooked. 

"The  next  problem  was  how  to  make  the 
real  Burnett  vanish  into  space,  and  substitute 
the  false  Burnett  without  raising  a  trace  of 
suspicion  till  my  visit  here  was  safely  over. 
Again  luck  was  with  us.  We  sent  an  agent 
down  to  make  inquiries  of  his  servant  a  few 
days  before  he  started,  and  found  that  he  was 
going  to  spend  a  night  with  a  friend  in  Edin- 
burgh on  his  way  north." 

Tiel  paused  to  knock  the  ashes  out  of  his 
pipe,  and  I  remarked — 

"At  first  sight  I  confess  that  seems  to  me 


TIEL'S  STORY  146 

to  complicate  the  problem.  You  would  have 
to  wait  till  Burnett  had  left  Edinburgh, 
wouldn't  you?" 

Tiel  smiled  and  shook  his  head. 

*'That  is  what  we  thought  ourselves  at  first," 
said  he,  "but  our  second  thoughts  were  better. 
What  do  you  think  of  a  wire  to  Burnett  from 
his  friend  in  Edinburgh  telling  him  that  a  Mr. 
Taylor  would  call  for  him  in  his  motor-car: 
plus  a  wire  to  the  friend  in  Edinburgh  from 
Mr.  Burnett  regretting  that  his  visit  must  be 
postponed?" 

"ExceUent!"  I  laughed. 

"Each  wire,  I  may  add,  contained  careful 
injunctions  not  to  reply.  And  I  may  also  add 
that  the  late  Mr.  Burnett  was  simplicity  it- 
self." 

I  started  involuntarily. 

"The  'late'  Mr.  Burnett!    Do  you  mean 

?'» 

"What  else  could  one  do  with  him?"  asked 
Tiel  calmly.  "Both  Schumann  and  I  believe 
in  being  thorough." 

Of  course  this  worthy  pair  were  but  doing 
their  duty.  Still  I  was  glad  to  think  they  had 
done  their  dirty  work  without  my  assistance. 


144  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

It  was  with  a  conscious  effort  that  I  was  able 
to  ask  cahnly —  ' 

"How  did  you  manage  it?" 

"Mr.  Taylor,  with  his  car  and  his  chauffeur, 
called  at  the  manse.  The  chauffeur  remained 
in  the  car,  keeping  his  face  unostentatiously 
concealed.  Mr.  Taylor  enjoyed  the  minister's 
hospitality  till  the  evening  had  sufficiently 
fallen.  Then  we  took  him  to  Edinburgh  by 
the  coast  road." 

Tiel  paused  and  looked  at  me,  as  though  to 
see  how  I  was  enjoying  the  gruesome  tale.  I 
am  afraid  I  made  it  pretty  clear  that  I  was 
not  enjoying  it  in  the  least.  The  idea  of  first 
partaking  of  the  wretched  man's  hospitality, 
and  then  coolly  murdering  him,  was  a  little 
too  much  for  my  stomach.  Tiel,  however, 
seemed  rather  amused  than  otherwise  with  my 
attitude. 

"We  knocked  him  on  the  head  at  a  quiet 
part  of  the  road,  stripped  him  of  every  stitch 
of  clothing,  tied  a  large  stone  to  his  feet,  and 
pitched  him  over  the  cliff,"  he  said  calmly. 

"And  his  clothes ,"  I  began,  shrinking 

back  a  little  in  my  chair. 


TIEL'S  STORY  145 

"Are  these,"  said  Tiel,  indicating  his  re- 
spectable-looking suit  of  black. 

Curiously  enough  this  was  the  only  time  I 
heard  the  man  tell  a  tale  of  this  sort,  and  in 
this  diabolical,  deliberate,  almost  flippant  way. 
It  was  in  marked  contrast  to  his  usually  brief, 
concise  manner  of  speaking.  Possibly  it  was 
my  reception  of  his  story  that  discouraged  him 
from  exhibiting  this  side  of  his  nature  again. 
I  certainly  made  no  effort  to  conceal  my  dis- 
taste now. 

"Thank  God,  I  am  not  in  the  secret  serv- 
ice!" I  said  devoutly. 

"I  understand  you  are  in  the  submarine  serv- 
ice," said  Tiel  in  a  dry  voice. 

"I  am — and  I  am  proud  of  it!" 

"Have  you  never  fired  a  torpedo  at  an  in- 
offensive merchant  ship?" 

"That  is  very  different!"  I  replied  hotly. 

"It  is  certainly  more  wholesale,"  said  he. 

I  sprang  up. 

"Mr.  Tiel,"  I  said,  "kindly  understand  that 
a  German  naval  officer  is  not  in  the  habit  of 
enduring  affronts  to  his  service!" 

"But  vou  think   a   German   secret-sen^ice 


146  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

agent  should  have  no  such  pride?"  he  inquired. 

"I  dechne  to  discuss  the  question  any  fur- 
ther," I  said  stiffly. 

For  a  moment  he  seemed  exceedingly 
amused.  Then  he  saw  that  I  was  in  no  hu- 
mour for  jesting  on  the  subject,  and  he  ceased 
to  smile. 

"Have  another  cigar?"  he  said,  in  a  quiet 
matter-of-fact  voice,  just  as  though  nothing 
had  happened  to  ruffle  the  harmony  of  the  eve- 
ning. 

"You  quite  understand  what  I  said?"  I  de- 
manded in  an  icy  voice. 

"I  thought  the  subject  was  closed,"  he  re- 
plied with  a  smile,  and  then  jumping  up  he 
laid  his  hand  on  my  arm  in  the  friendliest  fash- 
ion. "My  dear  Belke,"  said  he,  "we  are  going 
to  be  shut  up  together  in  this  house  for  several 
days,  and  if  we  begin  with  a  quarrel  we  shall 
certainly  end  in  murder.  Let  us  respect  one 
another's  point  of  view,  and  say  no  more  about 
it." 

"I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  *one  an- 
other's point  of  view,'  "  I  answered  politely 
but  coldly.  "So  far  as  I  am  aware  there  is 
only  one  point  of  view,  and  I  have  just  stated 


TIEL'S  STORY  14T 

it.  If  we  both  respect  that,  there  will  be  no 
danger  of  our  quarrelling." 

He  glanced  at  me  for  a  moment  in  an  odd 
way,  and  then  said  merely — 

"Well,  are  you  going  to  have  another  cigar, 
or  would  you  like  to  go  to  bed?" 

"With  your  permission  I  shall  go  to  bed," 
I  said. 

He  conducted  me  through  the  hall  and  down 
the  passage  that  led  to  the  back  premises.  At 
the  end  rose  a  steep  and  narrow  stair.  We 
ascended  this,  and  at  the  top  found  a  narrow 
landing  with  a  door  at  either  end  of  it. 

"This  is  your  private  flat,"  he  explained  in 
a  low  voice.  "The  old  house,  you  will  see,  has 
been  built  in  two  separate  instalments,  which 
have  separate  stairs  and  no  commimication 
with  one  another  on  the  upper  landing.  These 
two  rooms  are  supposed  to  be  locked  up  and 
not  in  use  at  present,  but  I  have  secured  their 
keys." 

He  unlocked  one  of  the  doors,  and  we  en- 
tered the  room.  It  was  square,  and  of  quite 
a  fair  size.  On  two  sides  the  walls  sloped  attic- 
wise,  in  a  third  was  a  fire-place  and  a  window, 
and  in  the  fourth  two  doors — the  second  open- 


148  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

ing  into  a  large  cupboard.  This  room  had 
simple  bedroom  fm-niture,  and  also  a  small 
table  and  a  basket  chair.  When  we  entered, 
it  was  lit  only  by  a  good  fire,  and  pervaded  by 
a  pleasant  aroma  of  peat  smoke.  Tiel  lighted 
a  paraffin  lamp  and  remarked — 

"You  ought  to  be  quite  comfortable  here." 

Personally,  I  confess  that  my  breath  was 
fairly  taken  away.  I  had  anticipated  sleep- 
ing under  the  roof  in  some  dark  and  chilly 
garret,  or  perhaps  in  the  straw  of  an  outhouse. 

"Comfortable!"  I  exclaimed.  "Mein  Gott, 
who  would  not  be  on  secret  service!  But  are 
you  sure  all  this  is  safe?  This  fire,  for  instance 
— the  smoke  surely  will  be  seen." 

"I  have  promised  to  keep  the  bedrooms 
aired  while  I  am  staying  here,"  smiled  Tiel. 

He  then  explained  in  detail  the  arrange- 
ments of  our  remarkable  household.  He  him- 
self slept  in  the  front  part  of  the  house,  up 
the  other  staircase.  The  room  opposite  mine 
was  empty,  and  so  was  the  room  underneath; 
but  below  the  other  was  the  kitchen,  and  I  was 
warned  to  be  very  quiet  in  my  movements. 
The  single  servant  arrived  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  left  about  nine  o'clock  at  night:  she 


TIEL'S  STORY  149 

lived,  it  seemed,  at  a  neighbouring  farm;  and 
Tiel  assured  me  there  was  nothing  to  be  feared 
from  her  provided  I  was  reasonably  careful. 

I  had  brought  with  me  a  razor,  a  tooth- 
brush, and  a  brush  and  comb,  and  Tiel  had 
very  thoughtfully  brought  a  spare  sleeping 
suit  and  a  pair  of  slippers.  I  was  not  at  all 
sure  that  I  was  disposed  to  like  the  man,  but 
I  had  to  admit  that  his  thoroughness  and  his 
consideration  for  my  comfort  were  highly 
praiseworthy.  In  fact,  I  told  him  so  frankly, 
and  we  parted  for  the  night  on  friendly  terms. 

Tiel  quietly  descended  the  stairs,  while  I  sat 
down  before  my  fire  and  smoked  a  last  ciga- 
rette, and  then  very  gratefully  turned  into  my 
comfortable  bed. 


Ill 

THE   PLAN 

I  SLEPT  like  a  log,  and  only  awakened 
when  Tiel  came  into  my  room  next  morn- 
ing, bringing  my  breakfast  on  a  tray.  He 
had  sent  the  servant  over  to  the  farm  for  milk, 
he  explained,  and  while  I  ate  he  sat  down  be- 
side my  bed. 

"Can  you  talk  business  now?"  I  asked. 

"This  afternoon,"  said  he. 

I  made  a  grimace. 

"I  naturally  don't  want  to  waste  my  time," 
I  observed. 

"You  won't,"  he  assured  me. 

"But  why  this  afternoon  rather  than  this 
morning?  You  can  send  the  servant  out  for 
a  message  whenever  you  choose." 

"I  hope  to  have  a  pleasant  little  surprise  for 
you  in  the  afternoon." 

I  was  aware  of  the  fondness  of  these  secret- 
service  agents   for  a  bit  of  mystery,   and  I 

150 


THE  PLAN  151 

knew  I  had  to  humour  him.  But  really  it 
seems  a  childish  kind  of  vanity. 

"There  is  one  thing  you  can  do  for  me,"  I 
said.  "If  I  am  to  kick  up  my  heels  in  this 
room  all  day — and  probably  for  several  days 
— I  must  have  a  pen  and  ink  and  some  fools- 
cap." 

After  his  fashion  he  asked  no  questions  but 
merely  nodded,  and  presently  brought  them. 

The  truth  was,  I  had  conceived  the  idea  of 
writing  some  account  of  my  adventure,  and  in 
fact  I  am  writing  these  lines  now  in  that  very 
bedroom  I  have  described.  I  am  telling  a 
story  of  which  I  don't  know  the  last  chapter 
myself.  A  curious  position  for  an  author! 
If  I  am  caught — well,  it  will  make  no  differ- 
ence. I  have  given  nothing  away  that  won't 
inevitably  be  discovered  if  I  am  arrested. 
And,  mein  Gott,  what  a  relief  it  has  been!  I 
should  have  died  of  boredom  otherwise. 

If  only  my  window  looked  out  to  sea!  But, 
unluckily,  I  am  at  the  back  of  the  house  and 
look,  as  it  were  sideways,  on  to  a  sloping  hill- 
side of  green  ferns  below  and  brown  heather 
at  the  top.  By  opening  the  window  and  put- 
ting my  head  right  out,  I  suppose  I  should 


162  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

catch  a  glimpse  of  the  sea,  but  then  my  neigh- 
bours would  catch  a  glimpse  of  me.  I  expostu- 
lated with  Tiel  as  soon  as  I  realised  how  the 
room  faced,  but  he  points  out  that  the  servant 
may  go  into  any  room  in  the  front  part  of  the 
house,  whereas  this  part  is  supposed  to  be 
closed.  I  can  see  that  he  is  right,  but  it  is 
nevertheless  very  tantalising. 

On  that  Saturday  afternoon  Tiel  came  back 
to  my  room  some  hours  later,  and  under  his 
quiet  manner  I  could  see  that  he  bore  tidings 
of  importance.  No  one  could  come  quicker 
to  the  point  when  he  chose,  and  this  time  he 
came  to  it  at  once. 

"You  remember  the  affair  of  the  Hailey- 
bury?"  he  demanded. 

"The  British  cruiser  which  was  mined  early 
in  the  war?" 

He  nodded. 

"Perfectly,"  I  said. 

"You  never  at  any  time  came  across  her 
captain?    His  name  was  Ashington." 

"No,"  I  said,  "I  have  met  very  few  British 
officers." 

"I  don't  know  whether  you  heard  that  she 


THE  PLAN  153 

was  supposed  to  be  two  miles  out  of  her  proper 
course,  contrary  to  orders,  did  you?" 

"Was  she?" 

"Ashington  says  *no.'  But  he  was  court- 
martialled,  and  now  he's  in  command  of  a  small 
boat — the  Yellowhammer.  Before  the  loss  of 
his  ship  he  was  considered  one  of  the  most 
promising  officers  in  the  British  service; 
now !" 

Tiel  made  an  expressive  gesture  and  his  eyes 
smiled  at  me  oddly.     I  began  to  understand. 

"Now  he  is  an  acquaintance  of  yours  ?" 

Tiel  nodded. 

"But  has  he  knowledge?  Has  he  special  in- 
formation?" 

"His  younger  brother  is  on  the  flagship,  and 
he  has  several  very  influential  friends.  I  see 
that  my  friends  obtain  knowledge." 

I  looked  at  him  hard. 

"You  are  quite  sure  this  is  all  right?  Such 
men  are  the  last  to  be  trusted — even  by  those 
who  pay  them." 

"Do  you  know  many  *such  men'?"  he  in- 
quired. 

"None,  I  am  thankful  to  say." 


154  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"They  are  queer  fish,"  said  Tiel  in  a  rem- 
iniscent way,  "but  they  generally  do  the  thing 
pretty  thoroughly,  especially  when  one  has  a 
firm  enough  hold  of  them.  Ashington  is  abso- 
lutely reliable." 

"Where  is  he  to  be  seen?" 

"He  went  out  for  a  walk  this  afternoon," 
said  Tiel  drily,  "and  happened  to  call  at  the 
manse  to  see  if  he  could  get  a  cup  of  tea — a 
very  natural  thing  to  do.  Come — the  coast  is 
clear." 

He  led  the  way  downstairs  and  I  followed 
him,  not  a  little  excited,  I  confess.  How  my 
mission  was  going  to  develop,  I  had  no  clear 
idea  when  I  set  forth  upon  it,  but  though  I 
had  imagined  several  possible  developments, 
I  was  not  quite  prepared  for  this.  To  have 
an  officer  of  the  Grand  Fleet  actually  assist- 
ing at  our  councils  was  decidedly  unexpected. 
I  began  to  reahse  more  and  more  that  Adolph 
Tiel  was  a  remarkable  person. 

In  the  front  parlour  an  officer  rose  as  we 
entered,  and  the  British  and  German  uniforms 
bowed  to  each  other  under  circumstances  which 
were  possibly  unique.  Because,  though  Ash- 
ingtons  do  exist  and  these  things  sometimes 


THE  PLAN  155 

happen,  they  generally  happen  in  mufti.  I 
looked  at  our  visitor  very  hard.  On  his  part, 
he  looked  at  me  sharply  for  a  moment,  and 
then  averted  his  eyes.  I  should  certainly  have 
done  the  same  in  his  place. 

He  was  a  big  burly  man,  dark,  and  getting 
bald.  His  voice  was  deep  and  rich;  his  skin 
shone  with  physical  fitness;  altogether  he  was 
a  fine  gross  animal,  and  had  his  spirit  been 
as  frank  and  jovial  as  his  appearance  sug- 
gested, I  could  have  pictured  him  the  j  oiliest 
of  company  in  the  ward-room  and  the  life  and 
soul  of  a  desperate  enterprise.  But  he  main- 
tained a  frowning  aspect,  and  was  clearly  a 
man  whose  sullen  temper  and  sense  of  injury 
had  led  him  into  my  friend's  subtle  net.  How- 
ever, here  he  was,  and  it  was  manifestly  my 
business  not  to  criticise  but  to  make  the  most 
of  him. 

"Well,  gentlemen,"  began  Tiel,  "I  don't 
think  we  need  beat  about  the  bush.  Captain 
Ashington  has  an  idea,  and  it  is  for  Lieutenant 
von  Belke  to  approve  of  it  or  not.  I  know 
enough  myself  about  naval  affairs  to  see  that 
there  are  great  possibilities  in  the  suggestion, 
but  I  don't  know  enough  to  advise  on  it." 


156  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"What  is  the  suggestion?"  I  asked  in  a  very- 
dry  and  non-committal  voice. 

Captain  Ashington,  I  noticed,  cleared  his 
throat  before  he  began. 

"The  fleet  is  going  out  one  evening  next 
week,"  he  said;  "probably  on  Thursday." 

"How  do  you  know?"  I  demanded. 

He  looked  confidently  at  Tiel. 

"Mr.  Tiel  knows  the  source  of  my  informa- 
tion," he  said. 

"I  should  like  to  know  it  too,"  said  I. 

"I  can  vouch  for  Captain  Ashington's  in- 
formation," said  Tiel  briefly. 

There  is  something  extraordinarily  decisive 
and  satisfying  about  Tiel  when  he  speaks  like 
that.  I  knew  it  must  be  all  right;  still,  I  felt 
it  my  duty  to  make  sure. 

"Have  you  any  objections  to  telling  me?" 
I  asked. 

Tiel  stepped  to  my  side  and  whispered — 

"I  told  you  about  his  brother." 

I  understood,  and  did  not  press  my  ques- 
tion. Whether  to  respect  the  man  for  this 
remnant  of  dehcacy,  or  to  despise  him  for  not 
being  a  more  thorough,  honest  blackguard,  I 
was  not  quite  sure. 


THE  PLAN  157 

"Well,"  I  said,  "suppose  we  know  when 
they  are  going  out,  they  will  take  the  usual 
precautions,  I  presume?" 

Ashington  leaned  forward  confidentially 
over  the  table. 

"They  are  going  out  on  a  new  course,"  he 
said  in  a  low  voice. 

I  pricked  up  my  ears,  but  all  I  said  was — 

"Why  is  that?" 

"On  account  of  the  currents.  The  old  pas- 
sage hasn't  been  quite  satisfactory.  They  are 
going  to  experiment  with  a  new  passage." 

This  certainly  sounded  all  right,  for  I  knew 
how  diabolical  the  tideways  can  be  round  these 
islands. 

"Do  you  know  the  new  course  at  all  ac- 
curately?" I  inquired. 

Captain  Ashington  smiled  for  the  first  time, 
and  somehow  or  other  the  sight  of  a  smile  on 
his  face  gave  me  a  strongly  increased  distaste 
for  the  man. 

"I  know  it  exactly,"  he  said. 

He  took  out  of  his  pocket  a  folded  chart 
and  laid  it  on  the  table.  The  three  of  us  bent 
over  it,  and  at  a  glance  I  could  see  that  this 
was  business  indeed.    All  the  alterations  in 


158  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

the  mine-fields  were  shown  and  the  course  pre- 
cisely laid  down. 

"Well,"  said  Tiel,  "I  think  this  suggests 
something,  Belke." 

By  this  time  I  was  inwardly  burning  with 
excitement. 

"I  hope  to  have  the  pleasure  of  being  pres- 
ent just  about  that  spot,"  I  said,  pointing  to 
the  chart. 

"Or  there,"  suggested  Ashington. 

"Either  would  do  very  nicely,  so  far  as  I 
can  judge,"  said  Tiel.  "How  many  subma- 
rines can  you  concentrate,  and  how  long  will 
it  take  you  to  concentrate  them?" 

I  considered  the  question. 

"I  am  afraid  there  is  no  use  in  concentrating 
more  than  two  or  three  in  such  narrow  wa- 
ters," I  said.  "Squadronal  handling  of  sub- 
marines of  course  is  impossible  except  on  the 
surface.  And  we  clearly  can't  keep  on  the 
surface !" 

Captain  Ashington  looked  at  me  in  a  way  I 
did  not  at  all  like. 

"We  run  a  few  risks  in  the  British  navy," 
he  said.     "D n  it,  you'll  have  a  sitting  tar- 


THE  PLAN  159 

get!  I'd  crowd  in  every  blank  submarine  the 
water  would  float  if  I  were  running  this  stunt  !'* 

"You  don't  happen  to  be  running  it,"  I  said 
coldly. 

Tiel  touched  me  lightly  on  the  shoulder  and 
gave  me  a  swift  smile,  pleasant  but  admoni- 
tory. 

"The  happy  mean  seems  to  be  suggested,'* 
he  said  soothingly.  "There's  a  great  deal  to 
be  said  for  both  points  of  view.  On  the  one 
hand  you  risk  submarines:  on  the  other  hand 
you  make  the  battle-fleet  run  risks.  One  has 
simply  to  balance  those.  What  about  half  a 
dozen  submarines?" 

I  shook  my  head. 

"Too  many,"  I  said.  "Besides,  we  couldn't 
concentrate  them  in  the  time." 

"How  many  could  you?" 

"Four,"  I  said;  "if  I  can  get  back  to  my 
boat  on  Monday,  we'll  have  them  there  on 
Thm-sday." 

Tiel  produced  a  bottle  of  whisky  and  syphons 
and  we  sat  over  the  chart  discussing  details  for 
some  time  longer.  It  was  finally  handed  over 
to  me,  and  Captain  Ashington  rose  to  go. 


160  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"By  the  way,"  I  said,  "there  is  one  very 
important  preliminary  to  be  arranged.  How 
am  I  to  get  back  to  my  boat?" 

"That  will  be  all  right,"  said  Tiel  confi- 
dently; "I  have  just  heard  from  Captain  Ash- 
ington  that  they  have  arrested  the  wrong  man 
on  suspicion  of  being  the  gentleman  who  toured 
the  countiy  yesterday.  The  only  thing  is  that 
they  can't  find  his  cycle.  Now  I  think  if  we 
could  arrange  to  have  your  motor-cycle  quietly 
left  near  his  house  and  discovered  by  the  au- 
thorities, they  are  not  likely  to  watch  the  roads 
any  longer." 

"I'll  fix  that  up,"  said  Captain  Ashington 
promptly. 

"How  will  you  mange  it?"  I  asked. 

"Trust  him,"  said  Tiel. 

"But  then  how  shall  I  get  back?" 

"I  shall  drive  you  over,"  smiled  Tiel. 
"There  will  probably  be  a  dying  woman  who 
desires  the  consolations  of  religion  in  that 
neighbourhood  on  Monday  night." 

I  smiled  too,  but  merely  at  the  cunning  of 
the  man,  not  at  the  thought  of  parting  with  my 
motor-cycle.  However,  I  saw  perfectly  well 
that  it  would  be  folly  to  ride  it  over,  and  if  I 


THE  PLAN  161 

left  it  behind  at  the  manse — well,  I  was 
scarcely  likely  to  call  for  it  again ! 

"Now,  Belke,"  said  Tiel,  "we  had  better  get 
you  safely  back  to  your  turret-chamber.  You 
have  been  away  quite  as  long  as  is  safe." 

I  bowed  to  Captain  Ashington — I  could  not 
bring  myself  to  touch  his  hand,  and  we  left  his 
great  gross  figure  sipping  whisky-and-soda. 

"^^Tiat  do  you  think  of  him?"  asked  Tiel. 

"He  seems  extremely  competent,"  I  an- 
swered candidly.  "But  what  an  unspeakable 
scoundrel !" 

"We  mustn't  quarrel  with  our  instruments," 
said  he  philosophically.  "He  is  doing  Ger- 
many a  good  turn.     Surely  that  is  enough." 

"I  should  like  to  think  that  Germany  did  not 
need  to  stoop  to  use  such  characters!" 

"Yes,"  he  agreed,  though  in  a  colourless 
voice,  "one  would  indeed  like  to  think  so." 

I  could  see  that  Adolph  Tiel  had  not  many 
scruples  left  after  his  cosmopolitan  experi- 
ences. 


IV 

WHAT   HAPPENED   ON   SUNDAY 

THAT  evening  when  we  had  the  house  to 
ourselves,  I  joined  Tiel  in  the  parlour, 
and  we  had  a  long  talk  on  naval  matters,  Brit- 
ish and  German.  He  knew  less  of  British 
naval  affairs  than  I  did,  but  quite  enough  about 
Gemian  to  make  him  a  keen  listener  and  a 
very  suggestive  talker.  In  fact  I  found  him 
excellent  company.  I  even  suspected  him  at 
last  of  being  a  man  of  good  bii'th,  and  quite 
fitting  company  for  a  German  officer.  But  of 
course  he  may  have  acquired  his  air  of  breeding 
from  mixing  with  men  like  myself.  As  for  his 
name,  that  of  course  gave  no  guide,  for  I 
scarcely  supposed  that  he  had  been  Tiel 
throughout  his  adventurous  career.  I  threw 
out  one  or  two  "feelers"  on  the  subject,  but  no 
oyster  could  be  more  secretive  than  Adolph 
Tiel  when  he  chose. 

That  night  I  heard  the  wind  wandering  nois- 

162 


WHAT  HAPPENED  ON  SUNDAY      163 

ily  round  the  old  house,  and  I  wakened  in  the 
morning  to  find  the  rain  beating  on  the  win- 
dow. Tiel  came  in  rather  late  with  my  break- 
fast, and  I  said  to  him  at  once — 

"I  have  just  remembered  that  this  is  Sun- 
day. I  wish  I  could  come  and  hear  your  ser- 
mon, Tiel!" 

"I  wish  you  could,  too,"  said  he.  "It  will 
be  a  memorable  event  in  the  parish." 

"But  are  you  actually  going  to  do  it?" 

"How  can  I  avoid  it?" 

"You  are  so  ingenious  I  should  have  thought 
you  would  have  hit  upon  a  plan." 

He  looked  at  me  in  his  curious  way. 

"Why  should  I  have  tried  to  get  out  of  it?" 

I  shrugged  my  shoulders. 

"Personally,  I  shouldn't  feel  anxious  to 
make  a  mock  of  religion  if  I  could  avoid  it." 

"We  are  such  a  religious  people,"  said  he, 
"that  surely  we  can  count  on  God  forgiving  us 
more  readily  than  other  nations." 

He  spoke  in  his  driest  voice,  and  for  a  mo- 
ment I  looked  at  him  suspiciously.  But  he 
was  perfectly  gi*ave. 

"Still,"  I  replied,  "I  am  glad  the  Navy 
doesn't  have  to  preach  bogus  sermons!" 


164  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"Ah,"  said  he,  "the  German  navy  has  to 
keep  on  its  pedestal.  But  the  secret  service 
must  sometimes  creep  about  in  the  dust." 

His  eyes  suddenly  twinkled  as  he  added — 

"But  never  fear,  I  shall  give  them  a  beauti- 
ful sermon!  The  text  will  be  the  passage 
about  Joshua  and  the  spies,  and  the  first  hymn 
will  be,  'Onward  Christian  Sailors.'  " 

He  threw  me  a  humorous  glance  and  went 
out.  I  smiled  back,  but  I  confess  I  was  not 
very  much  amused.  Neither  the  irreverence 
nor  the  jest  about  the  sailors  (since  it  referred 
apparently  to  me)  struck  me  as  in  the  best  of 
taste. 

That  morning  was  one  of  the  dreariest  I 
ever  spent.  The  wind  rose  to  half  a  gale,  and 
the  fine  rain  beat  in  torrents  on  the  panes.  I 
wrote  diligently  for  some  time,  but  after  a 
while  I  grew  tired  of  that  and  paced  the  floor 
in  my  stockinged  feet  (for  the  sake  of  quiet- 
ness) like  a  caged  animal.  My  one  consola- 
tion was  that  to-morrow  would  see  the  end  of 
my  visit.  Already  I  longed  for  the  cramped 
quarters  and  perpetual  risks  of  the  submarine, 
and  detested  these  islands  even  more  bitterly 
than  I  hated  any  other  part  of  Britain. 


WHAT  HAPPENED  ON  SUNDAY      165 

In  the  early  afternoon  I  had  a  pleasant  sur- 
prise. Tiel  came  in  and  told  me  that  his  serv- 
ant had  gone  out  for  the  rest  of  the  day,  and 
that  I  could  safely  come  down  to  the  parlour. 
There  I  had  a  late  luncheon  in  comparative 
comfort,  and  moreover  I  could  look  out  of  the 
windows  on  to  the  sea.  And  what  a  dreary 
prospect  I  saw !  Under  a  heavy  sky  and  with 
grey  showers  rolling  over  it,  that  open  treeless 
country  looked  desolation  itself.  As  for  the 
waters,  white-caps  chased  each  other  over  the 
wind-whipped  expanse  of  grey,  fading  into  a 
wet  blur  of  moving  rain  a  few  miles  out. 
Through  this  loomed  the  nearer  lines  of  giant 
ships,  while  the  farther  were  blotted  clean  out. 
I  thought  of  the  long  winters  when  one  day  of 
this  weather  followed  another  for  week  after 
week,  month  after  month;  when  the  northern 
days  were  brief  and  the  nights  interminable, 
and  this  armada  lay  in  these  remote  isles  en- 
during and  waiting.  The  German  navy  has 
had  its  gloomy  and  impatient  seasons,  but  not 
such  a  prolonged  purgatory  as  that.  We  have 
a  different  arrangement.  Probably  every- 
body knows  what  it  is — still,  one  must  not 
say. 


166  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

After  lunch,  when  we  had  lit  our  cigars, 
Tiel  said — 

*'By  the  way,  you  will  be  pleased  to  hear 
that  my  efforts  this  morning  were  so  successful 
that  the  people  want  me  to  give  them  another 
dose  next  Sunday." 

I  stared  at  him. 

"Really?"  I  exclaimed. 

He  nodded. 

"But  I  thought  there  would  be  another 
preacher  next  Sunday." 

"Oh,  by  no  means.  There  was  no  one  for 
next  Sunday,  and  they  were  only  too  glad  to 
have  the  pulpit  filled." 

"But  will  you  risk  it?" 

He  smiled  confidently. 

"If  there  is  any  danger,  I  shall  get  warning 
in  plenty  of  time." 

"To  ensure  your  escape?" 

"To  vanish  somehow." 

"But  why  should  you  wait?" 

He  looked  at  me  seriously  and  said  delib- 
erately— 

"I  have  other  schemes  in  my  head — some- 
thing even  bigger.  It  is  too  early  to  talk  yet, 
but  it  is  worth  running  a  little  risk  for." 


WHAT  HAPPENED  ON  SUNDAY      167 

I  looked  at  this  astonishing  man  with  uncon- 
cealed admiration.  Regulations,  authorities, 
precautions,  dangers,  he  seemed  to  treat  as  al- 
most negligible.  And  I  had  seen  how  he  could 
contrive  and  what  he  could  effect. 

"I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to  ask  you  to  stay 
with  me  for  a  few  days  longer,"  he  added. 

I  don't  think  I  ever  got  a  more  unpleasant 
shock. 

"You  mean  you  wish  me  not  to  rejoin  my 
ship  to-morrow  night?" 

"I  know  it  is  asking  a  great  deal  of  j^ou; 
but,  my  dear  Belke,  duty  is  duty." 

"My  duty  is  with  my  ship,"  I  said  quickly. 
"Besides,  it  is  the  post  of  danger — and  of  hon- 
our.    Think  of  Thursday  night !" 

"Do  you  honestly  think  you  are  essential  to 
the  success  of  a  torpedo  attack?" 

"Every  officer  will  be  required." 

"My  dear  Belke,  you  didn't  answer  my  ques- 
tion.    Are  you  essential^' 

"My  dear  Tiel,"  I  replied  firmly,  for  I  was 
quite  resolved  I  should  not  remain  cooped  up 
in  this  infernal  house,  exposed  to  hourly  risk 
of  being  shot  as  a  spy,  while  my  ship  was  going 
into  action,  "I  am  soiTy  to  seem  disobliging; 


168  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

but  I  am  a  naval  officer,  and  my  first  duty  is 
quite  clear  to  me.'* 

"Pardon  me  for  reminding  you  that  you  are 
at  present  under  my  orders,"  said  he. 

"While  this  affair  is  being  arranged  only." 

"But  I  say  that  I  have  not  yet  finished  my 
arrangements." 

I  saw  that  I  was  in  something  of  a  dilemma, 
for  indeed  it  was  difficult  to  say  exactly  how 
my  injunctions  met  the  case. 

"Well,"  I  said,  "I  shall  tell  you  what  I 
shall  do.  I  shall  put  it  to  my  superior  offi- 
cer. Commander  Wiedermann,  and  ask  him 
whether  he  desires  me  to  absent  myself  any 
longer." 

This  was  a  happy  inspiration,  for  I  felt  cer- 
tain what  Wiedermann  would  say. 

"Then  I  shall  not  know  till  to-morrow  night 
whether  to  count  on  you — and  then  I  shall  very 
probably  lose  you?" 

I  shrugged  my  shoulders,  but  said  nothing. 
Suddenly  his  face  cleared. 

"My  dear  fellow,"  he  said,  "I  won't  press 
you.  Rejoin  your  ship  if  you  think  it  your 
duty." 

By  mutual  consent  we  changed  the  subject. 


WHAT  HAPPENED  ON  SUNDAY      169 

and  discussed  the  question  of  submarines 
versus  surface  ships,  a  subject  in  which  Tiel 
showed  both  interest  and  acumen,  though  I 
had  naturally  more  knowledge,  and  could  con- 
tribute much  from  my  own  personal  experi- 
ence. I  must  add  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  dis- 
cuss such  matters  with  him,  for  he  has  a  frank 
and  genuine  respect  for  those  who  really  un- 
derstand what  they  are  talking  about. 

Towards  evening  I  went  back  to  my  room, 
and  fell  to  writing  this  narrative  again,  but 
about  ten  o'clock  I  had  another  visit  from  Tiel ; 
and  again  he  disconcerted  me,  though  not  so 
seriously  this  time. 

*'I  had  a  message  from  Ashington,  asking 
to  see  me,"  he  explained,  "and  I  have  just  re- 
turned from  a  meeting  with  him.  He  tells 
me  that  the  date  of  the  fleet's  sailing  will  prob- 
ably be  altered  to  Friday,  but  he  will  let  me 
know  definiteh''  to-morrow  or  Tuesday." 

"Or  Tuesday!"  I  exclaimed.  "Then  I  may 
have  to  stay  here  for  another  night !" 

"I'm  sorry,"  said  he,  "but  I'm  afraid  it  can't 
be  helped." 

"But  can  we  ever  be  sure  that  the  fleet  will 
keep   to   a  programme?     I   have   just   been 


170  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

thinking  it  over,  and  the  question  struck  me — 
why  are  they  making  this  arrangement  so  far 
ahead?" 

"That  struck  me  too,"  said  Tiel,  "and  also 
Ashington.  But  he  has  found  out  now. 
There  is  some  big  scheme  on.  Some  think  it  is 
Hehgoland,  and  some  think  the  Baltic.  Any- 
how, there  is  a  definite  programme,  and  they 
will  certainly  keep  to  it.  The  only  uncertain 
thing  is  the  actual  day  of  sailing." 

"It  is  a  plan  which  will  be  nicely  upset  if  we 
get  our  torpedoes  into  three  or  four  of  their 
super-dreadnoughts!"  I  exclaimed. 

He  nodded  grimly. 

"And  for  that,  we  want  to  have  the  timing 
exact,"  he  said.  "Be  patient,  my  friend;  we 
shall  know  by  Tuesday  morning  at  the  latest." 

I  tried  to  be  as  philosophical  as  I  could,  but 
it  was  a  drearj'^  evening,  with  the  rain  still  beat- 
ing on  my  window  and  another  day's  confine- 
ment to  look  forward  to. 


A   MYSTERIOUS   ADVENTURE 

MONDAY  morning  broke  wet  and  windy, 
but  with  every  sign  of  clearing  up. 
Tiel  looked  in  for  a  very  few  minutes,  but  he 
was  in  his  most  uncommunicative  mood,  and 
merely  told  me  that  he  would  have  to  be  out 
for  the  first  part  of  the  day,  but  would  be  back 
in  the  afternoon.  I  could  not  help  suspecting 
that  he  was  still  a  little  sore  over  my  refusal 
to  remain  with  him,  and  was  paying  me  out  by 
this  display  of  secrecy.  Such  petty  affronts 
to  officers  from  those  unfortunate  enough  to 
be  outside  that  class  are  not  unknown.  I  was 
of  course  above  taking  offence,  but  I  admit 
that  it  made  me  feel  less  anxious  to  consult  his 
wishes  at  every  turn. 

In  this  humour  I  wrote  for  a  time,  and  at 
last  got  up  and  stared  impatiently  out  of  the 
window.  It  had  become  quite  a  fine  day,  and 
the  prospect  of  gazing  for  the  gi-eater  part  of 

171 


172  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

it  at  a  few  acres  of  inland  landscape,  with  that 
fascinating  spectacle  to  be  seen  from  the  front 
windows,  irritated  me  more  and  more.  And 
then,  to  add  to  my  annoyance,  I  heard  "Boom ! 
Boom  I  Boom!"  crashing  from  the  seaward 
side,  and  shaking  the  very  foundations  of  the 
house.  I  began  to  feel  emphatically  that  it 
was  my  duty  to  watch  the  British  fleet  at  gun- 
nery practice. 

Just  then  two  women  appeared,  walking 
slowly  away  from  the  house.  One  had  an 
apron  and  no  hat,  and  though  I  had  only  once 
caught  a  fleeting  glimpse  of  the  back  view  of 
our  servant,  I  made  quite  certain  it  was  she. 
I  watched  them  till  they  reached  a  farm 
about  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  and  turned  into 
the  house,  and  then  I  said  to  myself — 

"There  can  be  no  danger  now!" 

And  thereupon  I  unlocked  my  door,  walked 
boldly  downstairs,  and  went  into  the  front  par- 
lour. 

I  saw  a  vastly  different  scene  from  yester- 
day. A  fresh  breeze  rippled  the  blue  waters, 
patches  of  sunshine  and  cloud-shadow  chased 
each  other  over  sea  and  land,  and  distinct  and 
imposing  in  its  hateful  majesty  lay  the  British 


A  MYSTERIOUS  ADVENTURE        178 

fleet.  A  light  cruiser  of  an  interesting  new 
type  was  firing  her  6-inch  guns  at  a  distant 
target,  and  for  about  five  minutes  I  thoroughly 
enjoyed  myself.     And  then  I  heard  a  sound. 

I  turned  instantly,  to  see  the  door  opening; 
and  very  hurriedly  I  stepped  back  behind  the 
nearest  window  curtain.  And  then  in  came 
our  servant — not  the  lady  I  had  seen  depart- 
ing from  the  house,  I  need  scarcely  say!  I 
was  fully  half  exposed  and  I  dared  not  make  a 
movement  to  draw  the  curtain  round  me;  in 
fact,  even  if  I  had,  my  feet  would  have  re- 
mained perfectly  visible.  All  I  could  do  was 
to  stand  as  still  as  a  statue  and  pray  that 
Heaven  would  blind  her. 

She  walked  in  briskly,  a  middle-aged  cap- 
able-looking woman,  holding  a  broom,  and 
glanced  all  round  the  room  in  a  purposeful 
way.  Among  the  things  she  looked  at  was  me, 
but  to  my  utter  astonishment  she  paid  no  more 
attention  than  if  I  had  been  a  piece  of  furni- 
ture. For  a  moment  I  thought  she  was  blind ; 
but  her  sharp  glances  clearly  came  from  no 
sightless  eyes.  Then  I  wondered  whether  she 
could  have  such  a  horrible  squint  that  when  she 
seemed  to  look  at  me  she  was  really  looking  in 


174  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

another  direction.  But  I  could  see  no  sign 
of  a  cast  in  those  eyes  either.  And  then  she 
picked  up  an  armful  of  small  articles  and 
walked  quickly  out,  leaving  the  door  wide  open. 

What  had  saved  me  I  had  no  idea,  but  I 
was  resolved  not  to  trust  to  that  curtain  any 
longer.  In  the  middle  of  the  room  was  a 
square  table  of  moderate  size  with  a  cloth  over 
it.  Without  stopping  to  think  twice,  I  dived 
under  the  cloth  and  crouched  upon  the  floor. 

The  next  instant  in  she  came  again,  and  I 
found  that  my  table-cloth  was  so  scanty  that  I 
could  follow  her  movements  perfectly.  She 
took  some  more  things  out,  and  then  more 
again,  and  finally  she  proceeded  to  set  the  fur- 
niture piece  by  piece  back  against  the  wall,  till 
the  table  was  left  lonely  and  horribly  conspicu- 
ous in  the  middle  of  the  floor.  And  then  she 
began  to  sweep  out  that  room. 

There  was  small  scope  for  an  exhibition  of 
resource,  but  I  was  as  resourceful  as  I  was 
able.  I  very  gently  pulled  the  scanty  table- 
cloth first  in  one  direction  and  then  in  the  other, 
according  to  the  side  of  the  room  she  was 
sweeping,  and  as  noiselessly  as  possible  I  crept 
a  foot  or  two  farther  away  from  her  each  time. 


A  MYSTERIOUS  ADVENTURE         175 

And  all  the  while  the  dust  rose  in  clouds,  and 
the  hateful  broom  came  so  near  me  that  it 
sometimes  brushed  my  boots.  And  yet  the 
extraordinary  woman  never  showed  by  a  single 
sign  that  she  had  any  suspicion  of  my  presence ! 

At  last  when  the  whole  floor  had  been  swept 
— except  of  course  under  the  table — she 
paused,  and  from  the  glimpse  I  could  get  of 
her  attitude  she  seemed  to  be  ruminating. 
And  then  she  stooped,  lifted  the  edge  of  the 
cloth,  and  said  in  an  absolutely  matter-of-fact 
voice — 

"Will  you  not  better  get  out  till  I'm  through 
with  my  sweeping?" 

Too  utterly  bewildered  to  speak,  I  crept  out 
and  rose  to  my  feet. 

"You  can  get  under  the  table  again  when 
I'm  finished,"  she  observed  as  she  pulled  off 
the  cloth. 

To  such  an  observation  there  seemed  no 
adequate  reply,  or  at  least  I  could  think  of 
none.  I  turned  in  silence  and  hurried  back  to 
my  bedroom.  And  there  I  sat  for  a  space  too 
dumbfounded  for  coherent  thought. 

Gradually  I  began  to  recover  my  wits  and 
ponder  over  this  mysterious  aff  au-,  and  a  theory 


176  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

commenced  to  take  shape.  Clearly  she  was  in- 
sane, or  at  least  half-witted,  and  was  quite  in- 
capable of  drawing  reasonable  conclusions. 
And  the  more  I  thought  it  over,  the  more  did 
several  circumstances  seem  to  confirm  this 
view.  My  fire,  for  instance,  with  its  smoke 
coming  out  of  the  chimney,  and  the  supply  of 
peat  and  firewood  which  Tiel  or  I  were  con- 
stantly bringing  up.  Had  she  noticed  noth- 
ing of  that?  Also  Tiel's  frequent  ascents  of 
this  back  staircase  to  a  pai-t  of  the  house  sup- 
posed to  be  closed.     She  must  be  half-witted. 

And  then  I  began  to  recall  her  brisk  eye  and 
capable  air,  and  the  idiot  theory  resolved  into 
space.  Only  one  alternative  seemed  left. 
She  must  be  spying  upon  us,  and  aware  of  my 
presence  all  the  time!  But  if  so,  what  could 
I  do  ?  I  felt  even  more  helpless  than  I  did  that 
first  night  when  my  motor-cycle  broke  down. 
I  could  only  sit  and  wait,  revolver  in  hand. 

When  I  heard  Tiel's  step  at  last  on  the  stairs, 
I  confess  that  my  nerves  were  not  at  their 
best. 

"We  are  betrayed!"  I  exclaimed. 

He  stared  at  me  very  hard. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  asked  quietly,  and 


A  MYSTERIOUS  ADVENTURE        17T 

I  am  bound  to  say  this  of  Tiel,  that  there  is 
something  very  reassuring  in  his  cahn  voice. 

I  told  him  hurriedly.  He  looked  at  me  for 
a  moment,  began  to  smile,  and  then  checked 
himself. 

"I  owe  you  an  apologj^  Belke,"  he  said,  "I 
ought  to  have  explained  that  that  woman  is  in 
my  pay." 

"In  your  pay?"  I  cried.  "And  she  has  been 
so  all  the  time?" 

He  nodded. 

"And  yet  you  never  told  me,  but  let  me  hide 
up  in  this  room  like  a  rat  in  a  hole?" 

"The  truth  is,"  he  rephed,  "that  till  I  had 
got  to  know  you  pretty  well,  I  was  afraid  you 
might  be  rash — or  at  least  careless,  if  you  knew 
that  woman  was  one  of  us." 

"So  you  treated  me  like  an  infant,  Mr. 
Tiel?" 

"The  life  I  have  lived,"  said  Tiel  quietly, 
"has  not  been  conducive  to  creating  a  feeling 
of  confidence  in  my  fellowmen's  discretion — 
until  I  know  them.  I  know  you  now,  and  I 
feel  sorry  I  took  this  precaution.  Please  ac- 
cept my  apologies." 

"I  accept  your  apolog>%"  I  said  stiffly;  "but 


178  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

in  future,  Mr.  Tiel,  things  will  be  pleasanter  if 
you  trust  me." 

He  bowed  slightly  and  said  simply — 

"I  shall." 

And  then  in  a  different  voice  he  said — 

"We  have  a  visitor  coming  this  afternoon  to 
stay  with  us." 

"To  stay  here !"  I  exclaimed. 

"Another  of  us,"  he  explained. 

"Another — in  these  islands?    Who  is  he?" 

As  T  spoke  we  heard  a  bell  ring. 

"Ah,  here  she  is,"  said  Tiel,  going  to  the 
door.  "Come  down  and  be  introduced  when- 
ever you  like." 

For  a  moment  I  stood  stock  still,  lost  in 
doubt  and  wonder. 

"She!"  I  repeated  to  myself. 


VI 

THE  VISITOR 

MY  feelings  as  I  approached  the  parlour 
were  anything  but  happy.  Some  voice 
seemed  to  warn  me  that  I  was  in  the  presence 
of  something  sinister,  that  some  unknown  peril 
stalked  at  my  elbow.  This  third  party — this 
"she" — filled  me  with  forebodings.  If  ever 
anybody  had  a  presentiment,  I  had  one,  and 
all  I  can  say  now  is  that  within  thirty  seconds 
of  opening  the  parlour  door,  I  had  ceased  to 
believe  in  presentiments,  entirely  and  finally. 
The  vision  I  beheld  nearly  took  my  breath 
away. 

•  "Let  me  introduce  you  to  my  sister,  ]Miss 
Burnett,"  said  Tiel.  "She  is  so  devoted  to 
her  brother  that  she  has  insisted  on  coming 
to  look  after  him  for  the  few  days  he  is  forced 
to  spend  in  this  lonely  manse." 

He  said  this  with  a  smile,  and  of  course  never 
intended  me  to  believe  a  word  of  his  statement, 
yet  as  he  gave  her  no  other  name,  and  as  that 

179 


180  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

was  the  only  account  of  her  circulated  in  the 
neighbourhood,  I  shall  simply  refer  to  her  in 
the  meantime  as  Miss  Burnett.  It  is  the  only 
name  that  I  have  to  call  her  by  to  her  face. 

As  to  her  appearance,  I  can  only  say  that 
she  is  the  most  beautiful  woman  I  have  ever 
met  in  my  life.  The  delicacy  and  distinction 
of  her  features,  her  dark  eyebrows,  her  en- 
trancing eye,  and  her  thoughtful  mouth,  so 
firm  and  yet  so  sweet,  her  delicious  figure  and 
graceful  carriage — heavens,  I  have  never  seen 
any  girl  to  approach  her!  What  is  more,  she 
has  a  face  which  I  trust.  I  have  had  some 
experience  of  women,  and  I  could  feel  at  the 
first  exchange  of  glances  and  of  words  that 
here  was  one  of  those  rare  women  on  whom  a 
man  could  implicitly  rely. 

"Have  you  just  landed  upon  these  islands?" 
I  inquired. 

"Not  to-day,"  she  said;  and  indeed,  when  I 
came  to  think  of  it,  she  would  not  have  had 
time  to  reach  the  house  in  that  case. 

"Did  you  have  much  difficulty?"  I  asked. 

"The  minister's  sister  is  always  admitted," 
said  Tiel  with  his  dry  smile. 


THE  VISITOR  181 

I  asked  presently  if  she  had  travelled  far. 
She  slirugged  her  shoulders,  gave  a  delightful 
little  laugh,  and  said — 

"We  get  so  used  to  travelling  that  I  have 
forgotten  what  'far'  is!" 

Meanwhile  tea  was  brought  in,  and  Miss 
Burnett  sat  down  and  poured  it  out  with  the 
graceful  nonchalant  air  of  a  charming  hostess 
in  her  own  drawing-room,  while  Tiel  talked 
of  the  weather  and  referred  carelessly  to  the 
latest  news  just  like  any  gentleman  who  might 
have  called  casually  upon  her.  I,  on  my  part, 
tried  as  best  I  could  to  catch  the  same  air,  and 
we  all  talked  away  very  pleasantly  indeed. 
We  spoke  English,  of  course,  all  the  time,  and 
indeed,  any  one  overhearing  us  and  not  seeing 
my  uniform  would  never  have  dreamt  for  a 
moment  that  we  were  anything  but  three  de- 
voted subjects  of  King  George. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  were  surely  proceed- 
ing on  the  assumption  that  nobody  was  be- 
hind a  curtain  or  hstening  at  the  keyhole,  and 
that  being  so,  I  could  not  help  feeling  that 
the  elaborate  pretence  of  being  a  mere  party 
of  ordinary  acquaintances  was  a  little  unneces- 


182  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

sary.  At  last  I  could  not  help  saying  some- 
thing of  what  was  in  my  mind. 

*'Is  the  war  over?"  I  asked  suddenly. 

Both  the  others  seemed  surprised. 

"I  wish  it  were,  Mr.  Belke!"  said  Miss  Bur- 
nett with  a  sudden  and  moving  change  of  seri- 
ousness. 

"Then  if  it  is  not,  why  are  we  pretending 
so  religiously  that  we  have  no  business  here  but 
to  drink  tea,  Miss  Burnett?" 

"I  am  not  pretending;  I  am  drinking  it," 
she  smiled. 

"Yes,  yes,"  I  said,  "but  you  know  what  I 
mean.     It  seems  to  me  so  un-German!" 

They  both  looked  at  me  rather  hard. 

"I'm  afraid,"  said  Miss  Burnett,  "that  we 
of  the  secret  service  grow  terribly  cosmoj)oli- 
tan.  Our  habits  are  those  of  no  country — or 
rather  of  all  countries." 

"I  had  almost  forgotten,"  said  Tiel,  "that  I 
once  thought  and  felt  like  Mr.  Belke."  And 
then  he  added  this  singular  opinion:  "It  is 
Germany's  greatest  calamity — greater  even 
than  the  coming  in  of  Britain  against  her,  or 
the  Battle  of  the  Marne — that  those  who  guide 
her  destinies  have  not  forgotten  it  too." 


THE  VISITOR  183 

"Wliat  do  you  mean?"  I  demanded,  a  little 
indignantly  I  must  own. 

"At  every  tea-party  for  many  years  Ger- 
many has  talked  about  what  interested  herself 
— and  that  was  chiefly  war.  At  no  tea-party 
has  she  tried  to  learn  the  thoughts  and  interests 
of  the  other  guests.  In  consequence  she  does 
not  yet  understand  the  forces  against  her,  why 
they  act  as  they  do,  and  how  strong  they  are. 
But  her  enemies  understand  too  well." 

"You  mean  that  she  has  been  honest  and 
they  dishonest?" 

"Yes,"  said  Miss  Burnett  promptly  and 
with  a  little  smile,  "my  brother  means  that  in 
order  really  to  deceive  people  one  has  to  act 
as  we  are  acting  now." 

I  laughed. 

"But  unfortunately  now  there  is  no  one  to 
deceive!" 

She  laughed  too. 

"But  they  might  suddenly  walk  in !" 

Tiel  was  not  a  frequent  laugher,  but  he  con- 
descended to  smile. 

"Remember,  Belke,"  he  said,  "I  warned  you 
on  the  first  night  we  met  that  you  must  not 
only  talk  but  think  in  English.     If  we  don't 


184  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

do  that  constantly  and  continually  when  no  one 
is  watching  us,  how  can  we  count  on  doing  it 
constantly  and  continually  when  some  one  may 
be  watching  us?" 

"Personally  I  should  think  it  sufficient  to 
wait  till  some  one  was  watching,"  I  said. 

"There  speaks  Germany,"  smiled  Tiel. 

"Germany  disdains  to  act  a  part  all  the 
time!"  I  cried. 

I  confess  I  was  nettled  by  his  tone,  but  his 
charming  "sister"  disarmed  me  instantly. 

"Mr.  Belke  means  that  he  wants  footlights 
and  an  orchestra  and  an  audience  before  he 
mutters  'Hush!  I  hear  her  coming!*  He 
doesn't  believe  in  saying  'Hush !'  in  the  corner 
of  every  railway  carriage  or  under  his  imi- 
brella.  And  I  really  think  it  makes  him  much 
less  alarming  company!" 

"You  explain  things  very  happily,  Eileen," 
said  Tiel. 

I  was  watching  her  face  (for  which  there 
was  every  excuse!)  and  I  saw  that  she  started 
ever  so  slightly  when  he  called  her  by  her 
first  name.  This  pleased  me — I  must  confess 
it.  It  showed  that  they  had  not  played  this 
farce  of  brother  and  sister  together  before. 


THE  VISITOR  185 

and  already  I  had  begun  to  dislike  a  little  the 
idea  that  they  were  old  and  intimate  confeder- 
ates. I  also  fancied  that  it  showed  she  did  not 
quite  enjoy  the  familiarity.  But  she  got  her 
own  back  again  instantly. 

"It  is  my  one  desire  to  enhghten  you,  Alex- 
ander," she  replied  with  a  very  serious  air. 

I  could  not  help  laughing  aloud,  and  I  must 
confess  that  Tiel  laughed  frankly  too. 

The  next  question  that  I  remember  our  dis- 
cussing was  one  of  very  immediate  and  vital  in- 
terest to  us  all.  It  began  with  a  remark  by 
Eileen  (as  I  simply  must  call  her  behind  her 
back ;  'Miss  Burnett'  smacks  too  much  of  Tiel's 
disguises — and  besides  it  is  too  British).  We 
were  talking  of  the  English,  and  she  said — 

*'Well,  anyhow  they  are  not  a  very  suspicious 
people.     Look  at  this  little  party!" 

"Sometimes  I  feel  that  they  are  almost  in- 
credibly unsuspicious,"  I  said  seriously.  "In 
Germany  this  house  would  surely  be  either 
visited  or  watched!" 

Tiel  shook  his  head. 

"In  Kiel  or  Wilhelmshaven  an  English  party 
could  live  just  as  unmolested,"  he  replied, 
"provided  that  not  the  least  trace  of  suspi- 


186  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

cion  was  aroused  at  the  outset.  That  is  the 
whole  secret  of  my  profession.  One  takes 
advantages  of  the  fact  that  even  the  most 
wary  and  watchful  men  take  the  greater  part 
of  their  surroundings  for  granted.  The  head 
of  any  War  Office — German,  French,  Eng- 
lish, or  whatever  it  may  be — doesn't  suddenly 
conceive  a  suspicion  of  one  of  his  clerks,  unless 
something  in  the  clerk's  conduct  calls  his  at- 
tention. If,  then,  it  were  possible  to  enter  the 
War  Office,  looking  and  behaving  exactly  like 
one  of  the  clerks,  suspicion  would  not  begin. 
It  is  the  beginning  one  has  to  guard  against." 

"Why  don't  you  enter  the  British  War 
Office,  then?"  asked  Eileen  with  a  smile. 

"Because,  unfortunately,  they  know  all  the 
clerks  intimately  by  sight.  In  this  case  they 
expected  a  minister  whom  nobody  knew.  The 
difficulty  of  the  passport  with  its  photograph 
was  got  over  by  a  little  ingenuity."  (He 
threw  me  a  quick  grim  smile.)  "Thus  I  was 
able  to  appear  as  a  person  fully  expected,  and 
as  long  as  I  don't  do  anything  inconsistent  with 
the  character,  why  should  any  one  throw  even 
so  much  as  an  inquisitive  glance  in  my  direc- 
tion.    Until  suspicion  be  gins  j  we  are  as  safe 


THE  VISITOR  187 

here  as  in  the  middle  of  Berlin.  Once  it  be- 
gins— well,  it  will  be  a  very  different  story." 

"And  you  don't  think  my  coming  will  rouse 
any  suspicion?"  asked  Eileen,  with,  for  the 
first  time  (I  fancied),  a  faint  suggestion  of 
anxiety. 

"Suspicion?  Certainly  not!  Just  think. 
Put  yourself  in  the  shoes  of  the  neighbours  in 
the  parish,  or  even  of  any  naval  officer  who 
might  chance  to  learn  you  were  here.  What 
is  more  natural  than  that  the  minister  who — 
at  the  request  of  the  people — is  staying  a  week 
longer  than  he  intended,  should  get  his  sister 
to  look  after  him?  The  danger-point  in  both 
cases  was  passed  when  we  got  into  the  islands. 
We  know  that  there  was  no  suspicion  roused 
in  either  case." 

"How  do  you  know?"  I  interposed. 

"Another  quality  required  for  this  work," 
replied  Tiel  with  a  detached  air,  "is  enough  im- 
agination to  foresee  the  precautions  that  will 
be  required.  One  wants  to  establish  precau- 
tion behind  precaution,  just  as  an  army  estab- 
lishes a  series  of  defensive  positions.  In  this 
case  I  have  got  our  good  friend  Ashington 
watching  closely  for  the  first  evidence  of  doubt 


188  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

or  inquiry.  So  that  I  know  that  both  my  sis- 
ter and  I  passed  the  barrier  without  raising  a 
question  in  anybody's  mind.'* 

"But  how  do  you  know  that  Ashington  can 
be  absolutely  relied  on?"  I  persisted. 

"Yes,"  put  in  Eileen,  "I  was  wondering 
too." 

"Because  Ashington  will  certainly  share  my 
fate — whatever  that  may  be,"  said  Tiel  grimly. 
"He  knows  that;  in  fact  he  knows  that  I  have 
probably  taken  steps  to  ensure  that  happen- 
ing, in  case  there  might  be  any  loophole  for 
him." 

"But  can't  a  man  turn  King's  evidence 
(isn't  that  the  term?)  and  get  pardoned?" 
asked  Eileen. 

"Not  a  naval  officer,"  said  Tiel. 

"No,"  I  agreed.  "I  must  say  that  for  the 
British  Navy.  An  officer  would  have  no  more 
chance  of  pardon  in  it  than  in  our  own  na\y." 

"Well,"  smiled  Eileen,  "I  feel  relieved! 
Don'tyou,  Mr.  Belke?" 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "I  begin  to  understand  the 
whole  situation  more  clearly.  I  pray  that 
suspicion  may  not  begin!" 

"In  that  case,"  said  Tiel,  "you  realise  now. 


THE  VISITOR  189 

perhaps,  why  we  have  to  keep  up  acting, 
whether  any  one  is  watching  us  or  not." 

"Yes,"  I  admitted,  "I  begin  to  see  your  rea- 
sons a  little  better.  But  why  didn't  you  tell 
me  all  this  before?" 

"All  what?" 

"Well — about  Ashington,  for  instance." 

"I  suppose,"  he  said,  "the  truth  is,  Belke, 
that  you  have  laid  your  finger  on  another  in- 
stance of  people  taking  things  for  granted.  I 
assumed  you  would  realise  these  things.  It 
was  my  own  fault." 

It  was  on  the  tip  of  my  tongue  to  tell  him 
that  the  real  reason  was  his  love  of  mystery 
and  his  Secret  Service  habit  of  distrusting  peo- 
ple, but  I  realised  that  Eileen  had  shown  a 
little  of  the  same  evasiveness,  and  I  would  not 
have  her  think  that  my  criticism  was  directed 
against  her. 

Presently  Tiel  suggested  that  it  would  be 
wiser  if  I  retired  to  my  room,  and  for  a  moment 
there  was  a  sharp,  though  politely  expressed 
difference  of  opinion  between  us.  I  argued 
very  naturally  that  since  the  serv^ant  was  in 
our  pay  there  was  no  danger  to  be  apprehended 
within  the  house,  and  that  I  was  as  safe  in 


190  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

the  parlour  as  anywhere.  In  his  mystery- 
making,  ultra-cautious  way,  he  insisted  that  a 
visitor  might  appear  (he  even  suggested  the 
police — though  he  had  just  previously  said  they 
had  no  suspicion!)  and  that  he  was  going  to 
run  no  risks.  Eileen  said  a  word  on  his  side 
— though  with  a  very  kind  look  at  me — and  I 
consented  to  go.  And  then  he  requested  me  to 
staj^  there  for  the  rest  of  the  evening!  Again 
Eileen  saved  a  strained  situation,  and  I  said 
farewell  stiffly  to  him  and  very  differently  to 
her;  in  fact  I  made  a  point  of  accentuating 
the  difference. 

I  reached  my  room,  lit  a  cigar,  and  for  a 
time  paced  the  floor  in  a  state  of  mind  which 
I  found  hard  to  analyse.  I  can  only  say  that 
my  feelings  were  both  mixed  and  strong,  and 
that  at  last,  to  give  me  relief,  I  sat  down  to 
write  my  narrative,  and  by  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening  had  brought  it  up  nearly  to  this  point. 

By  that  time  of  course  the  curtains  were 
drawn  and  my  lamp  was  lit,  and  as  it  was  a 
windy  chilly  night,  my  fire  was  blazing 
brightly.  Higher  and  higher  rose  the  wind 
till  it  began  to  make  a  very  heavy  and  con- 
stant booming  in  the  chimney,  like  distant 


THE  VISITOR  191 

salvoes  of  great  guns.  Apart  from  the  wind 
the  old  house  was  utterly  quiet,  and  when  the 
wooden  stair  suddenly  creaked  I  dropped  my 
pen  and  sat  up  very  sharply.  More  and  more 
distinctly  I  heard  a  firm  but  light  tread  com- 
ing up  and  up,  until  at  last  it  ceased  on  the 
landing.  And  then  came  a  gentle  tap  upon  my 
door. 


VII 

AT   NIGHT 

WITH  a  curious  sense  of  excitement  I 
crossed  the  room.  I  opened  the  door 
— and  there  stood  Eileen.  She  had  taken  off 
her  hat,  and  without  it  looked  even  more  beau- 
tiful, for  what  hat  could  rival  her  masses  of 
dark  hair  so  artfully  arranged  and  yet  with  a 
rippling  wave  all  through  them  that  utterly 
defied  restraint  ? 

"May  I  come  in  for  a  little?"  she  said. 

She  asked  in  such  a  friendly  smiling  way, 
so  modest  and  yet  so  unafraid,  that  even  the 
greatest  Don  Juan  could  not  have  mistaken 
her  honest  intention. 

"I  shall  be  more  than  charmed  to  have 
your  company,"  I  said. 

"I'm  afraid  we  soon  forget  the  convention- 
alities in  our  sei'vice,"  she  said  simply.  "Tiel 
has  gone  out,  and  I  was  getting  very  tired  of 
my  own  company." 

192 


AT  NIGHT  193 

"Imagine  how  tired  I  have  got  of  mine!"  I 
cried. 

She  gave  a  little  understanding  nod. 

"It  must  be  dreadfully  dull  for  you,"  she 
agreed  with  great  sincerity — and  she  added, 
as  she  seated  herself  in  my  wicker  chair,  "I 
have  another  excuse  for  calling  on  you,  and 
that  is,  that  the  more  clearly  we  all  three 
understand  what  we  are  doing,  the  better. 
Don't  you  think  so?" 

"Decidedly!  In  fact  I  only  wish  we  all 
thought  the  same." 

She  looked  at  me  inquiringly,  and  yet  as 
though  she  comprehended  quite  well. 

"You  mean ?" 

"Well,  to  be  quite  frank,  I  mean  Tiel.  He 
is  very  clever,  and  he  knows  his  work.  Mein 
Gott,  we  can  teach  him  nothing!  And  per- 
haps he  trusts  you  implicitly  and  is  quite  can- 
did. But  he  certainly  tells  me  no  more  than 
he  can  help." 

"He  tells  nobody  more  than  he  can  help," 
she  said.  "You  are  no  worse  treated  than  any 
one  else  he  works  with.  But  it  is  a  little  an- 
noying sometimes." 


194.  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"For  instance,  do  you  know  what  he  is 
doing  to-night?"  I  asked. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  criticism  in  the 
Httle  shrug  with  which  she  rephed — 

"I  half  suspect  he  is  walking  about  in  the 
dark  by  himself  just  to  make  me  think  he  is 
busy  on  some  mysterious  affair!" 

"Do  you  actually  mean  that?"  I  exclaimed. 

"No,  no,"  she  said  hastily,  "not  really  quite 
that!  But  he  sometimes  tempts  one  to  say 
these  things." 

"Have  you  worked  with  him  often  before?" 

"Enough  to  know  his  little  peculiarities." 
She  smiled  suddenly.  "Oh,  he  is  a  very  won- 
derful man,  is  my  dear  brother !" 

Again  I  was  delighted  (I  confess  it  shame- 
lessly!) to  hear  that  unmistakable  note  of 
criticism. 

"  'Wonderful'  may  have  several  meanings," 
I  suggested. 

"It  has  in  his  case,"  she  said  frankly.  "He 
really  is  extraordinarily  clever." 

She  added  nothing  more,  but  the  implication 
was  very  clear  that  the  other  meanings  were 
not  quite  so  flattering.  I  felt  already  that  this 
strange  httle  household  was  divided  into  two 


AT  NIGHT  195 

camps,  and  that  Eileen  and  I  were  together  in 
one. 

"But  we  have  talked  enough  about  Herr 
Tiel !"  she  exclaimed  in  a  different  voice.  "Be- 
cause we  really  can  get  no  further.  It  is  hke 
discussing  what  is  inside  a  locked  box!  We 
can  trust  his  judgment  in  this  business ;  I  think 
you  will  agree  to  that." 

"Oh  yes,"  I  said,  "I  have  seen  enough  to 
respect  his  abilities  veiy  thoroughly." 

"Then,"  said  she,  "let  us  talk  of  something 
more  amusing." 

"Yourself,"  I  said  frankly,  though  perhaps 
a  little  too  boldly,  for  she  did  not  respond  im- 
mediately. I  felt  that  I  had  better  proceed 
more  diplomatically. 

"I  was  wondering  whether  you  were  a  pure 
German,"  I  added. 

"My  feelings  towards  Germany  are  as  strong 
as  yours,  Mr.  Belke,"  she  answered.  "Indeed 
I  don't  think  any  one  can  be  more  loyal  to 
their  country  than  I  am,  but  I  am  not  purely 
German  by  blood.  My  mother  was  Irish, 
hence  my  name — Eileen." 

"Then  that  is  your  real  name?"  I  cried,  be- 
tween surprise  and  delight. 


196  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"Yes,  that  is  the  one  genuine  thing  about 
me,"  she  smiled. 

"But  if  you  are  half  English " 

"Irish,"  she  corrected. 

"Ah!"  I  cried.  "I  see — of  course!  I  was 
going  to  ask  whether  your  sympathies  were  not 
at  all  divided.  But  Irish  is  very  different. 
Then  you  hate  the  English  with  a  double 
hatred?" 

"With  one  or  two  exceptions — friends  I 
have  made — I  abhor  the  whole  race  I  am  fight- 
ing against  quite  as  much  as  you  could  possi- 
bly wish  me  to!  Indeed,  I  wish  it  were  fight- 
ing and  not  merely  plotting!" 

There  was  an  earnestness  and  intensity  in 
her  voice  and  a  kindling  of  her  eye  as  she  said 
this  that  thrilled  and  inspired  me  Hke  a  trum- 
pet. 

"We  shall  defeat  them — never  fear!"  I 
cried.  "We  shall  trample  on  the  pride  of 
England.  It  will  be  hard  to  do,  but  I  have  no 
doubt  as  to  the  result;  have  you?" 

"None,"  she  said,  quietly  but  with  absolute 
confidence. 

Then  that  quick  smile  of  hers,  a  little  grave 
but  very  charming,  broke  over  her  face. 


AT  NIGHT  197 

**But  let  us  get  away  for  a  little  from  war," 
she  said.  "You  aren't  smoking.  Please  do, 
if  you  wish  to." 

I  lit  a  cigarette,  and  offered  one  to  her,  but 
she  said  she  did  not  smoke.  And  I  liked  her 
all  the  better.  We  talked  more  lightly  for  a 
while,  or  perhaps  I  should  rather  say  less  ear- 
nestly, for  our  situation  did  not  lend  itself  to 
frivolity.  It  did  lend  itself  however  to 
romance, — we  two  sitting  on  either  side  of  the 
peat  fire,  with  a  shaded  lamj:)  and  the  friendly 
flames  throwing  odd  lights  and  shadows 
through  the  low,  primitive  room  with  its  slop- 
ing attic-like  walls  and  its  scanty  furniture; 
and  the  wind  all  the  while  tempestuously  boom- 
ing in  the  chimney  and  scouring  land  and  sea. 
And  neither  on  land  nor  sea  was  there  a  single 
friend ;  surrounded  by  enemies  who  would  have 
given  a  heavy  price  to  have  learned  who  sat 
in  that  room,  we  talked  of  many  things. 

At  last,  all  too  soon,  she  rose  and  wished  me 
good-night.     A  demon  of  perversity  seized  me. 

"I  shall  escort  you  down  to  Mr.  Tiel,  and 
the  devil  take  his  precautions!"  I  exclaimed. 

"Oh  no,"  she  protested.  "After  all  he  is  in 
command." 


198  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

She  really  seemed  quite  concerned  at  my  in- 
tention, but  I  can  be  very  obstinate  when  I 
choose. 

"Tuts!"  I  said.  "It  is  sheer  rubbish  to  pre- 
tend that  there  is  any  risk  at  this  time  of  night. 
Probably  he  is  still  out,  and  anyhow  he  will 
not  have  visitors  at  this  hour." 

She  looked  at  me  very  hard  and  quickly  as 
if  to  see  if  I  were  possible  to  argue  with,  and 
then  she  gave  a  little  laugh  and  merely  said — 

"You  are  terribly  wilful,  Mr.  Belke!" 

And  she  ran  downstairs  very  quickly,  as 
though  to  run  away  from  me.  I  followed  fast, 
but  she  was  some  paces  ahead  of  me  as  we  went 
down  the  dark  passage  to  the  front  of  the 
house.  And  then  suddenly  I  heard  guarded 
voices,  and  stoj^ped  dead. 

There  was  a  bend  in  the  passage  just  before 
it  reached  the  hall,  and  Eileen  had  passed  this 
while  I  had  not,  and  so  I  could  see  nothing 
ahead.     Then  I  heard  the  voice  of  Tiel  say — 

"Well?" 

It  was  a  simple  word  of  little  significance, 
but  the  voice  in  which  it  was  said  filled  me  with 
a  very  unpleasant  sensation.  The  man  spoke 
in  such  a  f  amihar,  confidential  way  that  I  sud- 


AT  NIGHT  199 

denly  felt  I  could  have  shot  him  cheerfully. 
For  the  instant  I  forgot  the  problem  of  the 
other  voice  I  had  heard. 

"3Ir.  Belke  is  with  me!  He  insisted,"  she 
cried. 

At  this  I  knew  that  the  unknown  voice  could 
not  belong  to  an  enemy,  and  I  advanced  again. 
As  I  passed  the  bend  in  the  passage  I  was  just 
in  time  to  see  Tiel  closing  the  front  door  be- 
hind a  man  in  a  long  dark  coat  with  a  gleam  of 
brass  buttons,  and  to  hear  him  say, 

"Good-night,  Ashington." 

Eileen  passed  into  the  parlour  with  a  smil- 
ing glance  for  me  to  follow,  and  Tiel  came  in 
after  us.  I  was  not  in  the  most  pleasant  tem- 
per. In  fact,  for  some  reason  I  was  in  a 
very  black  humour. 

"I  thought  you  had  gone  out,"  I  said  to  him 
at  once. 

"I  did  go  out." 

"But  now  I  understand  that  the  worthy 
Captain  Ashington  has  been  visiting  you 
here!" 

"Both  these  remarkable  events  have  oc- 
curred," said  Tiel  drily. 

When  I  recalled  how  long  Eileen  had  been 


200  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

up  in  my  room,  I  realised  that  this  was  quite 
possible,  but  this  did  not,  for  some  reason, 
soothe  me. 

"Why  did  he  come?"  I  asked. 

"The  fleet  is  going  out  on  Friday." 

"Aha!"  I  exclaimed,  forgetting  my  annoy- 
ance for  the  moment. 

"So  that  is  settled  at  last,"  said  Tiel  with 
a  satisfied  smile. 

He  happened  to  turn  his  smile  on  Eileen 
also,  and  my  annoyance  returned. 

"You  dismissed  our  dear  friend  Ashington 
very  quickly  when  you  heard  me  coming,"  I 
remarked  in  no  very  amiable  tone. 

Tiel  looked  at  me  gravely. 

"Belke,"  he  said,  "you  might  quite  well  have 
done  serious  mischief  by  showing  your  dislike 
for  Ashington  so  palpably  the  other  day. 
Even  a  man  of  that  sort  has  feelings.  I  have 
soothed  them,  I  am  glad  to  say,  but  he  was  not 
very  anxious  to  meet  you  again." 

"So  much  the  better!"  said  I.  "Traitors 
are  not  the  usual  company  a  German  officer 
keeps." 

"Many  of  us  have  to  mix  with  strange  com- 
pany nowadays,  ]Mr.  Belke,"  said  Eileen. 


AT  NIGHT  201 

Her  sparkling  eye  and  her  grave  smile  dis- 
armed me  instantly.  I  felt  suddenly  conscious 
I  was  not  playing  a  very  judicious  part,  or 
showing  myself  perhaps  to  great  advantage. 
So  I  bade  them  both  good-night  and  returned 
to  my  room. 

But  it  was  not  to  go  to  bed.  For  two  mor- 
tal hours  I  paced  my  floor,  and  thought  and 
thought,  but  not  about  any  problem  of  the 
war.  I  kept  hearing  Tiel's  "Well,"  spoken  in 
that  hatefully  intimate  way,  and  then  remem- 
bering that  those  two  were  alone — all  night ! — 
in  the  front  part  of  the  house,  far  out  of  sound 
or  reach  of  me.  I  did  not  doubt  Eileen  for 
an  instant,  but  that  calm,  cool,  cosmopolitan 
adventurer,  who  could  knock  an  unsuspecting 
clergjTnan  on  the  head  and  throw  him  over  a 
cliff,  and  then  tell  the  story  with  a  smile, — 
what' was  he  not  capable  of? 

Again  and  again  I  asked  myself  why  it  con- 
cerned me.  This  was  a  girl  I  had  only  known 
for  hours.  But  her  smile  was  the  last  thing  I 
saw  before  I  fell  asleep  at  length  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning. 


VIII 

THE  DECISION 

IN  tke  morning  I  came  down  to  breakfast 
without  asking  anybody's  leave,  and  I 
looked  at  those  two  very  hard.  To  see  Eileen 
fresh  and  calm  and  smiling  gave  me  the  most 
intense  rehef,  while,  as  for  Tiel,  he  looked  as 
cool  and  imperturbable  as  he  always  did — and 
I  cannot  put  it  stronger  than  that,  for  nothing 
more  cool  and  imperturbable  than  Tiel  ever 
breathed.  In  fact  it  could  not  have  breathed, 
for  it  would  have  had  to  be  a  graven  image. 

He  looked  at  me  critically,  but  all  he  said 
was — 

"If  it  wasn't  too  wet  for  your  nice  uniform, 
Belke,  we  might  have  had  breakfast  on  the 
lawn." 

"You  are  afraid  some  one  may  come  and 
look  in  at  this  window?"  I  asked. 

"On  the  whole  there  is  rather  more  risk  of 
that  than  of  some  one  climbing  up  to  look  in  at 
your  bedroom  window,"  said  he. 

202 


THE  DECISION  203 

"You  think  a  great  deal  of  risks,"  I  ob- 
served. 

"Yes,"  said  he.     "I  am  a  nervous  man." 

Eileen  laughed  merrily,  and  I  could  not  but 
confess  that  for  once  he  had  scored.  I  re- 
solved not  to  give  him  the  chance  again.  He 
then  proceeded  to  di'aw  the  table  towards  one 
end  of  the  room,  pulled  the  nearest  curtain 
part  way  across,  and  then  locked  the  front 
door.     But  I  made  no  comments  this  time. 

At  breakfast  Eileen  acted  as  hostess,  and  so 
charming  and  natural  was  she  that  the  little 
cloud  seemed  to  blow  over,  and  we  all  three 
discussed  our  coming  plan  of  attack  on  the  fleet 
fully  and  quite  freely.  Tiel  made  several  sug- 
gestions, which  he  said  he  had  been  discussing 
with  Ashington,  and,  as  they  seemed  extremely 
sound,  I  made  notes  of  them  and  promised  to 
lay  them  before  Wiedermann. 

When  we  had  finished  and  had  a  smoke, 
Tiel  rose  and  said  he  must  go  out  "on  parish 
business."  I  asked  him  what  he  meant,  and 
learned  to  my  amusement  that  in  his  capacity 
of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Burnett  he  had  to  at- 
tend a  meeting  of  what  he  called  the  "kirk- 
session."     We  both  laughed,  and  wished  him 


204  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

good  luck,  and  then  before  he  left  he  said — 

"You  had  better  get  back  to  your  room, 
Belke.     Remember  we  are  here  on  business/' 

And  with  that  he  put  on  his  black  felt  hat, 
and  bade  us  lock  the  front  door  after  him,  and 
if  anybody  called,  explain  that  it  was  to  keep 
the  wind  from  shaking  it.  I  must  say  he 
thought  of  these  small  points  very  thoroughly. 

The  suggestion  in  his  last  words  that  I  was 
placing  something  else  before  my  duty  stung 
me  a  little.  I  was  not  going  to  let  Tiel  see 
that  they  had  any  effect,  but  as  soon  as  he  had 
gone  I  rose  and  said  to  Eileen — 

"It  is  quite  clear  that  I  ought  to  return  to 
my  room.  I  have  notes  to  write  up,  and  sev- 
eral things  to  do  before  to-night." 

"Then  you  are  really  going  to  leave  us  to- 
night?" said  she;  "I  am  very  sorry." 

So  was  I.  Indeed,  the  thought  of  leaving 
her — probably  for  ever — would  have  been  bit- 
ter enough  in  any  case,  but  to  leave  her  alone 
with  Tiel  was  maddening.  It  had  troubled 
me  greatly  last  night,  yet  the  thought  of  re- 
maining was  one  I  did  not  really  care  to  face. 

"I  fear  I  must,"  I  replied,  in  a  voice  which 


THE  DECISION  205 

must  have  revealed  something  of  what  I  felt. 

"Tiel  told  me  you  absolutely  refused  to  lis- 
ten to  him  when  he  wished  you  to  remain." 

"Oh  no!"  I  cried.  "That  is  putting  it  far 
too  strongly.  I  offered  to  put  the  case  to  Com- 
mander Wiedermann,  and  then  Tiel  at  once 
assumed  I  was  going  to  leave  him,  and  told  me 
to  say  no  more  about  it." 

"Really!  That  is  somewhat  extraordin- 
ary!" she  exclaimed  in  rather  a  low  voice,  as 
though  she  were  much  struck  with  this.  She 
had  been  standing,  and  she  sat  as  she  spoke. 
I  felt  that  she  wished  to  go  further  into  this 
matter,  and  I  sat  down  again  too. 

"What  is  extraordinary  about  it?"  I  asked. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  Tiel  didn't  press 
you?" 

"No,"  I  said. 

"Mr.  Belke,"  she  said  earnestly,  "I  know 
enough  of  the  orders  under  which  we  are  act- 
ing and  the  plans  that  Tiel  has  got  to  further, 
to  be  quite  certain  that  you  were  intended  to 
stay  and  assist  him.     It  is  most  important." 

"You  are  quite  sure  of  this?" 

"Absolutely." 


206  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"Then  why  did  Tiel  give  up  trying  to  per- 
suade me  so  readily  ?  Why  didn't  he  try  to  use 
more  authority?" 

"I  wonder,"  she  said  in  a  musing  tone,  and 
yet  I  could  see  from  her  eye  that  she  had  an 
idea. 

"You  know!"  I  exclaimed.  "Tell  me  what 
is  in  your  mind!" 

Already  I  guessed,  but  I  dared  not  put  it 
into  words. 

"It  is  difficult  to  guess  Tiel's  motives — ex- 
actly," she  said  rather  slowly. 

I  felt  I  had  to  say  it  outright. 

"Are  you  his  motive?"  I  demanded. 

She  looked  at  me  quickly,  but  quite  can- 
didly. 

"I  scarcely  like  to  say — or  even  think  such  a 
thing,  but " 

She  broke  off,  and  I  finished  her  sentence 
for  her. 

"But  you  know  he  admires  you,  and  is  not 
the  man  to  stick  at  anything  in  order  to  get 
what  he  wants." 

"Ah!  Don't  be  unjust  to  him,"  she  an- 
swered; and  then  in  a  different  voice  added, 
"But  to  think  of  his  letting  you  go  like  that!" 


THE  DECISION  207 

"So  it  was  to  get  rid  of  me,  and  have  you 
alone  here  with  him?" 

"He  must  have  had  some  motive,"  she  ad- 
mitted, for  you  ought  to  stay." 

"I  shall  stay!"  I  said. 

She  gave  me  her  brightest  smile. 

"Really?  Oh,  how  good  of  you !  Or  rather 
— how  brave  of  you,  for  it  is  certainly  running 
a  risk." 

If  I  had  been  decided  before,  I  was  doubly 
decided  now. 

"It  is  not  the  German  navj'^'s  way  to  fear 
risks,"  I  said.  "It  is  my  duty  to  stay — for 
two  reasons — and  I  am  going  to  stay !" 

"And  Commander  Wiedermann?" 

"I  shall  simply  tell  him  I  am  under  higher 
orders,  given  me  by  Herr  Tiel." 

"If  you  added  that  there  is  a  second  plan 
directed  against  the  British  navy,  and  that  you 
are  needed  to  advise  on  the  details,  it  might 
help  to  convince  Commander  Wiedermann  how 
essential  your  presence  here  is,"  she  suggested. 

"Yes,"  I  agreed,  "it  would  be  well  to  men- 
tion that." 

"Also,"  she  said,  "you  would  require  to  have 
all  the  details  of  this  first  plan  so  fully  written 


208  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

out  that  he  would  not  need  to  keep  you  to  ex- 
plain anything." 

"You  think  of  everything!"  I  cried  with  an 
admiration  I  made  no  pretence  of  concealing. 
"I  shall  go  now  and  set  to  work." 

"Do!"  she  cried,  "and  when  Tiel  comes  in 
I  shall  tell  him  you  are  going  to  stay.  I  won- 
der what  he  will  say!" 

"I  wonder  too,"  said  I.  "But  do  you  care 
what  he  says?" 

"No,"  she  replied,  "because  of  course  he 
won't  say  it.     He  will  only  think." 

"Let  him  think!"  I  laughed. 

I  went  back  to  my  room  in  a  strange  state 
of  exhilaration  for  a  man  who  had  just  decided 
to  forgo  the  thing  he  had  most  looked  forward 
to,  and  run  a  horrible  risk  instead.  For  I  felt 
in  my  bones  that  uniform  or  no  uniform  I 
should  be  shot  if  I  were  caught.  I  put  little 
trust  in  English  justice  or  clemency.  But,  as 
I  said  before,  when  I  am  obstinate,  I  am  very 
obstinate;  and  I  was  firmly  resolved  that  if 
Wiedermann  wanted  me  back  on  board  to- 
night, he  would  have  to  call  a  guard  and  carry 
me!     However,   acting   on   Eileen's   sugges- 


THE  DECISION  209 

tions,  I  had  little  doubt  I  should  convince  hiin. 
And  thereupon  I  set  to  work  on  my  notes. 
By  evening  I  had  everything  so  fully  writ- 
ten out  and  so  clearly  explained  that  I  felt  I 
could  say  with  a  clear  conscience  that  even 
my  own  presence  at  a  council  of  war  could  add 
no  further  information. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  I  had  a  talk  with 
Tiel,  and  just  as  Eileen  had  anticipated,  he 
left  one  to  guess  at  what  was  in  his  mind.  He 
certainly  professed  to  be  glad  I  had  changed 
my  mind,  and  he  thanked  me  with  every  ap- 
pearance of  cordiahty. 

"Your  are  doing  the  right  thing,  Belke," 
he  said.  "And,  let  me  tell  you,  I  appreciate 
your  courage." 

There  was  a  ring  of  evident  sincerity  in  his 
voice  as  he  said  this,  and  whatever  I  might 
think  of  the  man's  moral  character,  a  compli- 
ment from  Tiel  on  one's  courage  was  not  a 
thing  to  despise. 

In  the  late  afternoon  he  set  out  to  obtain  a 
motor-car  for  the  evening's  expedition,  but 
through  what  ingenious  machinery  of  lies  he 
got  it,  I  was  too  busy  to  inquire. 


210  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

Finally,  about  ten  o'clock  at  night  we  sat 
down  to  a  little  supper,  my  pockets  bulging 
with  my  notes,  and  my  cyclist's  overalls  lying 
ready  to  be  donned  once  more. 


IX 

ON   THE   SHORE 

SOON  after  eleven  o'clock  two  dark  figures 
slipped  unostentatiously  out  of  the  back 
door,  and  a  moment  later  a  third  followed 
them.  My  heart  leapt  with  joy  and  surprise 
at  the  sight  of  it,  and  Tiel  stopped  and  turned. 

"What's  the  matter?"  he  asked. 

*'I'm  coming  too,"  said  Eileen. 

"Wliy?"  he  demanded  in  that  tone  of  his 
which  seemed  to  call  upon  the  questioned  to 
answer  with  exceeding  accuracy. 

"Because  I'd  like  a  drive,"  she  answered, 
with  a  woman's  confidence  that  her  reason  is 
good  enough  for  anybody. 

"As  you  please,"  he  said,  drily  and  with  un- 
fathomable calm;  and  then  he  turned  again, 
and  in  a  voice  that  betrayed  his  interest  in  her, 
asked,  "What  have  you  got  on?" 

"Quite  enough,  thank  you." 

"You  are  sure?  I've  lent  my  spare  coat  to 
Belke,  but  I  can  get  another  rug." 

211 


212  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"I  am  quite  sure,"  she  smiled. 

More  than  ever  I  felt  glad  I  was  staying 
beside  her. 

Tiel  sat  in  front  and  drove,  and  Eileen  and 
I  got  behind.  He  offered  no  objections  to 
this  arrangement,  though  as  she  seated  herself 
while  he  was  starting  the  engine,  he  was  cer- 
tainly not  given  much  choice.  And  then  with 
a  deep  purr  we  rolled  off  into  the  night. 

There  would  be  no  moon  till  getting  on  to- 
wards morning,  but  the  rain  had  lucidly  ceased 
and  the  wind  fallen,  and  overhead  the  stars 
were  everywhere  breaking  through  the  last 
wisps  of  cloud.  Already  they  gave  light 
enough  to  distinguish  sea  from  land  quite 
plainly,  and  very  soon  they  faintly  lit  the 
whole  wide  treeless  countryside.  The  car  was 
a  good  one,  however  Tiel  had  come  by  it,  and 
the  engine  was  pulling  well,  and  we  swept 
along  the  lonely  roads  at  a  great  pace,  one 
bare  telegraph  post  after  another  flitting 
swiftly  out  of  the  gloom  ahead  into  the  gloom 
behind,  and  the  night  air  rushing  against  our 
faces.  At  first  I  looked  round  me  and  recog- 
nised some  features  of  the  way  we  had  come, 
the  steep  hill,  and  the  sound  that  led  to  the 


ON  THE  SHORE  213 

western  ocean,  and  the  dark  mass  of  hills  be- 
yond, but  very  soon  my  thoughts  and  my  eyes 
alike  had  ceased  to  wander  out  of  the  car. 

We  said  little,  just  enough  to  serve  as  an 
excuse  for  my  looking  constantly  at  her  profile, 
and,  the  longer  I  looked,  admiring  the  more 
every  line  and  every  curve.  All  at  once  she 
leaned  towards  me  and  said  in  a  low  beseeching 
voice — 

"You  will  come  back,  won't  you?" 

"I  swear  it!"  I  answered  fervently,  and  to 
give  force  to  my  oath  I  gently  took  her  hand 
and  pressed  it.  If  it  did  not  return  the  pres- 
sure, it  at  least  did  not  shrink  from  my  clasp. 
And  for  the  rest  of  the  way  I  sat  holding  it. 

Presently  I  in  turn  leaned  towards  her  and 
whispered — 

"One  thing  I  have  been  wondering.  Should 
I  take  Tiel  with  me  to  see  Wiedermann?  It 
might  perhaps  be  expected." 

"No!"  she  replied  emphatically. 

"You  feel  sure?" 

For  reply  she  very  gently  pressed  my  hand  at 
last.  So  confident  did  I  feel  of  her  sure  judg- 
ment that  I  considered  that  question  settled. 

"By  the  way,"  she  said  in  a  moment,  "I 


214.  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

think  perhaps  it  might  be  advisable  to  say  noth- 
ing to  Commander  Wiedermann  about  me.  It 
is  quite  unnecessaiy,  and  he — well,  some  men 
are  always  suspicious  if  they  think  there  is  a 
woman  in  the  ease.  Of  course  I  admit  they 
sometimes  have  enough  excuse,  but — what  do 
you  think?" 

"I  agree  with  you  entirely,"  I  said  emphatic- 
aUy. 

I  know  Wiedermann  very  intimately,  and 
had  been  divided  in  mind  whether  I  should 
drop  a  little  hint  that  there  were  consolations, 
or  whether  I  had  better  not.  Now  I  saw  quite 
clearly  I  had  better  not. 

"What's  that?"  said  Eileen  in  a  moment. 

It  was  a  tall  gaunt  riionolith  close  to  the 
roadside,  and  then,  looking  round,  I  saw  a  loch 
on  the  other  side,  and  remembered  the  spot 
with  a  start.  It  was  close  by  here  that  my 
cycle  had  broken  down,  and  we  were  almost  at 
the  end  of  our  drive.  Round  the  corner  we 
swung,  straight  for  the  sea,  until  we  stopped 
where  the  road  ended  at  the  edge  of  the  links. 

I  gave  Eileen's  hand  one  last  swift  pressure, 
and  jumped  out. 

"We  shall  wait  for  you  here,"  said  Tiel  in  a 


ON  THE  SHORE  215 

low  voice,  "but  don't  be  longer  than  you  can 
help.     Remember  my  nerves !" 

He  spoke  so  cheerily  and  genially,  that  for 
the  moment  I  liked  him  again.  In  fact,  if  it 
had  not  been  for  Eileen,  and  his  love  of  mys- 
tery, there  was  much  that  was  very  attractive 
in  Tiel.  As  I  set  out  on  my  solitary  w^alk 
down  to  the  shore,  I  suddenty  wondered  what 
made  him  so  cheerful  and  bright  at  this  par- 
ticular moment,  for  it  did  not  strike  me  as  an 
exhilarating  occasion.  And  then  I  was  re- 
minded of  the  man  I  had  known  most  like 
Tiel,  a  captain  I  once  served  under,  who  was 
silence  and  calmness  itself  at  most  times,  but 
grew  strangely  genial  on  critical  occasions — a 
heaven-sent  gift.  But  from  Tiel's  point  of 
view,  what  was  critical  about  this  moment? 
The  risk  he  ran  at  this  hour  in  such  an  isolated 
spot  was  almost  negligible,  and  as  to  the  other 
circumstances,  did  it  matter  much  to  him 
whether  I  stayed  or  changed  my  mind  and 
went  away?     I  could  scarcely  believe  it. 

I  kept  along  by  the  side  of  the  sandy  track, 
just  as  I  had  done  before,  only  this  time  I 
did  not  lose  it.  The  rolling  hummocky  links 
were  a  little  darker,  but  the  stars  shone  in 


216  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

myriads,  bright  and  clear  as  a  winter's  night, 
and  I  could  see  my  way  well  enough.  As  I 
advanced,  I  smelt  the  same  pungent  seaweed 
odour,  and  heard  the  same  gulls  crying,  dis- 
turbed (I  hoped)  by  the  same  monster  in  the 
waters.  Fortunately  the  storm  had  blown 
from  the  south-east,  and  the  sea  in  this  west- 
ward-facing bay  heaved  quietly,  reflecting  the 
radiance  of  the  stars.  It  was  another  perfect 
night  for  our  purpose. 

I  reached  the  shore  and  turned  to  the  left 
along  the  rising  circumference  of  the  bay,  look- 
ing hard  into  the  night  as  I  went.  Something 
dark  lay  on  the  water,  I  felt  certain  of  it,  and 
presently  something  else  dark  and  upright 
loomed  ahead.  A  moment  later  I  had  grasped 
Wiedermann  by  the  hand.  He  spoke  but  a 
word  of  cordial  greeting,  and  then  turned  to 
descend  to  the  boat. 

"We'll  get  aboard  before  we  talk,"  said  he. 

The  difficult  moment  had  come.  Frankly, 
I  had  dreaded  it  a  little,  but  it  had  to  be 
faced  and  got  over. 

*'I  am  not  coming  aboard  to-night,  sir,"  I 
replied. 

He  turned  and  stared  at  me. 


ON  THE  SHORE  217 

"Haven't  you  settled  anything?"  he  de- 
manded. 

"Something,"  I  said,  "but  there  is  more  to 
be  done." 

I  told  him  then  concisely  and  clearly  what 
we  had  arranged,  and  handed  him  the  chart 
and  all  my  notes.  That  he  was  honestly  de- 
lighted with  my  news,  and  satisfied  with  my 
own  performance,  there  could  be  no  doubt. 
He  shook  me  warmly  by  the  hand  and  said — 

"Splendid,  Belke!  I  knew  we  could  count 
on  you!  It's  lucky  you  have  a  chest  broad 
enough  to  hold  all  your  decorations !  For  you 
will  get  them — never  doubt  it.  But  what  is 
all  this  about  staying  on  shore?  What  else 
are  you  needed  for?  And  who  the  devil  has 
given  you  such  orders?" 

"Herr  Tiel,"  I  said.  "I  was  placed  under 
his  orders,  as  you  will  remember,  sir." 

"But  what  does  he  want  you  for?  And  how 
long  does  he  imagine  the  British  are  going  to 
let  you  stay  in  this  house  of  yours  unsuspected? 
They  are  not  idiots !  It  seems  to  me  you  have 
been  extraordinarily  lucky  to  have  escaped  de- 
tection so  far.  Surely  you  are  not  going  to 
risk  a  longer  stay?" 


218  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"If  it  is  my  duty  I  must  run  the  risk." 

"But  is  it  your  duty?  I  am  just  wondering, 
Belke,  whether  I  can  spare  you,  with  this  at- 
tack coming  on,  and  whether  I  ought  to  over- 
ride Herr  Tiel's  orders  and  damn  the  conse- 
quences!" 

I  knew  his  independence  and  resolution,  but 
just  at  that  moment  there  passed  before  my 
mind's  eye  such  a  distinct,  sweet  picture  of 
Eileen,  that  I  was  filled  with  a  resolution  and 
independence  even  greater  than  his. 

"If  it  were  not  my  duty,  sir,"  I  said  firmly, 
"clearly  and  strongly  pointed  out  by  Herr 
Tiel,  I  should  never  dream  of  asking  you  to 
spare  me  for  a  little  longer." 

"He  was  then  very  clear  and  strong  on  the 
question?" 

"Extremely." 

"And  this  other  scheme  of  his — do  you  feel 
yourself  that  it  is  feasible  enough  to  justify 
you  in  leaving  your  ship  and  running  such  a 
terrible  risk?  Remember,  you  will  be  a  man 
lost  to  Germany!" 

I  have  put  down  exactly  what  he  said, 
though  it  convicts  me  of  having  departed  a 
little  from  the  truth  when  I  answered — 


ON  THE  SHORE  219 

"Yes,  it  will  justify  the  risk." 

After  all,  I  had  confidence  enough  in  Tiel's 
abilities  to  feel  sure  that  I  was  really  justified 
in  saying  this ;  but  I  determined  to  press  him 
for  some  details  of  his  plans  to-morrow. 

Wiedermann  stood  silent  for  a  moment; 
then  he  held  out  his  hand  and  said  in  a  sad 
voice — 

"Good-bye!  But  my  mind  misgives  me.  I 
fear  we  may  never  meet  again." 

"That  is  nonsense,  sir!"  I  cried  as  cheerfully 
as  I  could.  "We  shall  meet  again  very  soon. 
And  if  you  wish  something  to  cheer  you,  just 
study  those  plans!" 

And  so  we  parted,  he  descending  the  bank 
without  another  word,  and  I  setting  out  along 
the  path  that  by  now  was  beginning  to  feel 
quite  familiar.  I  did  not  even  pause  to  look 
back  this  time.  My  boats  were  burnt  and  I 
felt  it  was  better  to  hurry  on  without  dwell- 
ing longer  on  the  parting.  Besides,  there  was 
a  meeting  awaiting  me. 

When  I  reached  the  end  of  the  road,  I  found 
that  Tiel  had  been  spending  the  time  in  turn- 
ing the  car,  and  now  he  and  Eileen  stood  be- 
side it,  but  apparently  not  conversing. 


220  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"All  right?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,"  I  said.  "I  met  Wiedermann  and 
gave  him  all  the  plans." 

He  merely  nodded  and  went  to  start  the 
engine.  Again  I  was  forcibly  reminded  of 
my  old  captain,  and  the  way  in  which  he  be- 
came calmer  and  more  silent  than  ever  the 
moment  the  crisis  was  passed.  But  surely  this 
crisis  had  been  mine  and  not  his!  Anyhow,  I 
felt  a  singularly  strong  sense  of  reaction  and 
seated  myself  beside  Eileen  without  a  word. 
We  had  gone  for  a  little  way  on  our  homeward 
road  before  either  of  us  spoke,  and  then  it  was 
to  exchange  some  quite  ordinary  remark.  I 
put  out  my  hand  gently,  but  hers  was  no- 
where to  be  found,  and  this  increased  my  de- 
pression. I  fell  very  silent,  and  then  sud- 
denly, when  we  were  nearly  back,  I  ex- 
claimed— 

"I  wonder  whether  you  are  really  glad  that 
I  returned?" 

"Very!"  she  said,  and  there  was  such  deep 
sincerity  in  her  voice  that  the  cloud  began  to 
lift  at  once. 

Yet  I  was  not  in  high  spirits  when  I  re- 
entered my  familiar  room. 


PART  IV 

LIEUTENANT  VOX  BELKE'S  NAR- 
RATIVE CONCLUDED 


PART  IV 

LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE'S  NAR- 
RATIVE CONCLUDED 


WEDNESDAY 

I  WOKE  on  Wednesday  morning  with  an 
outlook  so  changed  that  I  felt  as  if  some 
magician  must  have  altered  my  nature.  Theo- 
retically I  had  taken  a  momentous  and  dan- 
gerous decision  at  the  call  of  duty,  and  all 
my  energies  ought  to  have  concentrated  on 
the  task  of  carrying  it  through  safely,  thor- 
oughly, and  warily.  I  had  need  of  more  cau- 
tion than  ever,  and  of  the  most  constant 
vigilance — both  for  the  sake  of  my  skin  and 
my  country.  As  a  matter  of  fact  I  was  pos- 
sessed with  the  recklessness  of  a  man  drifting 
on  a  plank  down  a  rapid,  where  taking  thought 
will  not  serve  him  an  iota.     In  vain  I  preached 

223 


224  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

theoretical  caution  to  myself — exactly  how 
vainly  may  be  judged  by  my  first  performance 
in  the  morning  when  I  found  myself  alone 
with  Eileen  in  the  parlour.  She  suggested 
that  for  my  own  sake  I  had  better  be  getting 
back  to  my  room. 

"Will  you  come  and  sit  there  with  me?"  I 
asked. 

"I  may  pay  a  call  upon  you  perhaps." 

"After  hours  of  loneliness !  And  then  leave 
me  lonelier  than  ever !  No,  thank  you,  I  shall 
stay  down  here." 

"In  your  uniform?"  she  asked,  opening  her 
eyes  a  little.     "No,  no,  Mr.  Belke!" 

"Well  then,  get  me  a  suit  of  mufti  1" 

She  looked  at  me  hard. 

"You  will  really  run  that  risk?" 

"It  is  now  worth  it,"  I  said  with  meaning. 

She  looked  away,  and  for  a  moment  I 
thought  she  was  pamed — not  displeased,  I  am 
sure,  but  as  if  something  had  given  her  a  pang 
of  sorrow.  Then  the  look  passed,  and  she 
cried — 

"Well,  if  Tiel  agrees!" 

"Tiel  be  hanged!  I  don't  care  what  he 
says!" 


WEDNESDAY  ^^5 

She  began  to  smile. 

"Do  you  propose  to  wear  my  clothes?"  she 
inquired. 

"Yours!"  I  exclaimed. 

"Otherwise,"  she  continued,  "you  must  per- 
suade Tiel  to  agree,  for  it  is  only  he  who  can 
provide  you  with  a  suit  of  mufti." 

Presently  Tiel  came  in  and  I  put  the  demand 
to  him  at  once.  He  looked  a  little  surprised, 
but,  somewhat  to  my  surprise,  raised  no  serious 
objections.  His  motives  are  hard  to  fathom, 
but  I  cannot  help  suspecting  that  despite  his 
air  of  self-confidence  and  authority,  he  has  an 
instinctive  respect  for  an  officer  and  acknowl- 
edges in  his  heart  that  I  am  really  his  superior. 

"You  mustn't  go  outside  the  house,  of 
course,"  he  said,  "and  if  by  any  evil  chance  anj'' 
visitor  were  to  come  in  unexpectedly,  you  must 
have  some  kind  of  a  story  ready." 

"Have  you  had  many  visitors  yet?"  I  asked 
with  a  touch  of  sarcasm. 

"You  never  know  your  luck,"  said  he,  "and 
I  believe  in  guarding  against  all  chances.  If 
you  are  surprised,  please  remember  that  your 
name  is  Mr.  Wilson." 

"Wilson?"  I  said  vrith  some  disgust.     "Am 


THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

I  named  in  honour  of  that  swine  in  America?" 

"You  are  named  Wilson,"  said  he,  "because 
it  is  very  hke  Watson  and  Williams  and  sev- 
eral other  common  names.  The  less  conspicu- 
ous and  more  easily  forgotten  a  name  one 
takes,  the  better." 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  thoroughness  of 
the  man  and  the  cunning  with  which  he  lays 
even  the  smallest  plans,  and  though  I  was  a 
little  contemptuous  of  his  finesse  at  the  mo- 
ment, I  must  confess  I  was  thankful  enough 
for  it  not  so  very  long  afterwards. 

"As  for  your  business,"  added  Tiel,  "you  are 
a  Government  inspector." 

"Of  what?"  I  asked. 

"If  you  are  asked,  look  deep  and  say  noth- 
ing," said  he.  "The  islands  are  full  of  people 
on  what  they  call  in  the  Navy  'hush'  jobs." 

"You  seem  pretty  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  British  Navy  down  to  its  slang,"  I 
observed. 

My  nen'^es  were  perhaps  a  little  strained  this 
morning,  and  I  meant  bj'-  this  to  make  a  sar- 
castic allusion  to  the  kind  of  blackguards  he 
dealt  with — such  as  Ashington.  I  glanced  at 
Eileen  as  I  spoke,  and  I  was  surprised  to  see 


WEDNESDAY  227 

a  sudden  look,  almost  of  alarm,  in  her  eye.  It 
was  turned  on  Tiel,  but  he  appeared  absolutely 
indifferent.  I  presumed  she  feared  he  might 
take  offence  and  make  a  row,  but  she  need  not 
have  worried.  It  would  take  a  very  pointed 
insult  to  rouse  that  calculating  machine. 

"Can  you  get  a  suit  of  mufti  for  me?"  I  in- 
quired. 

"I'll  look  one  out  presently,"  said  he. 

"I  presume  you  keep  a  few  disguises!"  I 
added. 

"A  few,"  said  he  with  one  of  his  brief  smiles. 
"You  had  better  go  up  to  your  room  in  the 
meantime,  and  I'll  bring  it  to  you." 

I  fumed  at  the  idea  of  any  delay,  and  as  I 
went  to  the  door  I  said — 

"Don't  be  long  about  it,  please!" 

INIore  and  more  the  thought  of  leaving  those 
two  alone  together,  even  for  a  short  while, 
filled  me  with  angiy  uneasiness,  and  I  paced 
my  bedroom  floor  impatiently  enough.  Judge 
then  of  my  relief  and  delight  when  within  a 
few  minutes  Eileen  knocked  at  my  door  and 
said — 

"I  have  come  to  pay  you  a  morning  call  if 
I  may." 


228  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

I  began  to  wish  then  that  Herr  Tiel  would 
spend  an  hour  or  two  in  looking  out  clothes 
for  me,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  did.  Eileen 
explained  that  he  had  said  he  must  do  some 
errand  in  his  capacity  as  parish  minister,  but 
what  the  mystery-monger  was  really  about. 
Heaven  knows! 

"Now,"  said  I  to  Eileen,  when  we  were 
seated  and  I  had  lit  a  cigarette,  "I  want  to 
ask  you  something  about  this  new  scheme  that 
we  three  are  embarked  upon." 

She  began  to  shake  her  head  at  once. 

"I  am  very  much  in  the  dark,"  said  she. 
"Tiel  tells  me  as  little  as  he  tells  you." 

"You  must  surely  know  one  thing.  What 
is  your  own  part  in  it  ?  Why  were  you  brought 
into  the  islands?  Such  risks  are  not  run  for 
nothing." 

"What  is  a  woman's  part  in  such  a  plan 
usually?"  she  asked  in  a  quiet  voice. 

I  was  a  little  taken  aback.  It  was  not  ex- 
actly pleasant  to  think  of — in  connection  with 
Eileen. 

"I  believe  they  sometimes  act  as  decoys,"  I 
said  bluntly. 

She  merely  nodded. 


WEDNESDAY  229 

"Then  that  is  your  role?'' 

"I  presume  so,"  she  said  frankly. 

"Who  are  you  going  to  decoy?"  I  asked,  and 
I  felt  that  my  voice  was  harsh. 

"Ask  Herr  Tiel,"  she  answered. 

"Not  that  gross  brute  Ashington  surely!" 

She  shook  her  head  emphatically,  and  I  felt 
a  little  relieved. 

"You  have  seen  for  yourself  that  he  needs 
no  further  decoying,"  she  said. 

"Then  it  must  be  some  even  higher  game 
you're  to  be  flown  at." 

"I  wonder!"  she  said,  and  smiled  a  little. 

I  hated  to  see  her  smile. 

"I  don't  like  to  think  of  you  doing  this,"  I 
exclaimed  suddenly. 

"Not  even  for  Germany?"  she  asked. 

I  was  silenced,  but  my  blood  continued  to 
boil  at  the  thought  of  what  might  not  be  asked 
of  her. 

"Would  you  go  to  any  lengths?"  I  asked 
abruptly. 

"For  my  country  I  would,  to  any  lengths!" 
she  answered  proudly. 

Again  I  felt  rebuked,  yet  still  more  savage 
at  the  thought. 


230  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"You  would  even  become  some  British  Ad- 
miral's mistress?"  I  asked  in  a  low  voice. 

Her  colour  suddenly  rose,  and  for  an  instant 
she  seemed  to  start.  Then  in  rather  a  cool 
voice  she  said — 

"Perhaps  we  are  thinking  of  rather  different 
things." 

And  with  that  she  changed  the  subject,  nor 
could  I  induce  her  to  return  to  it.  I  admit 
frankly  I  was  a  little  puzzled.  Her  reception 
of  my  question,  perfectly  honestly  put,  had 
been  curiously  unlike  the  candour  I  should 
have  expected  in  a  girl  of  her  strange  profes- 
sion, especially  considering  her  defiance  of  all 
conventionalities  in  living  alone  here  with  two 
men,  and  sitting  at  this  moment  in  the  room  of 
one  of  them.  I  respected  her  the  more  for 
her  hint  of  affronted  dignity.  Yet  I  confess  I 
felt  bewildered. 

How  long  we  had  talked  I  know  not,  when 
at  last  Tiel  appeared,  bringing  a  very  present- 
able tweed  suit,  and  then  they  both  left  me, 
and  I  did  the  one  thing  I  had  so  firmly  re- 
solved not  to  do.  I  discarded  my  uniform  with 
what  protection  it  gave  me,  and  made  myself 
liable  to  be  shot  without  question  or  doubt. 


WEDNESDAY  Sai 

Yet  my  only  feeling  was  gladness  that  I  need 
no  longer  stay  cooped  up  in  my  room  while 
those  two  spent  their  hom's  together  down- 
stairs. 

That  afternoon,  when  we  were  all  three  to- 
gether, I  asked  Tiel  for  some  definite  informa- 
tion regarding  his  scheme,  and  we  had  a  long, 
and  I  must  say  a  very  interesting,  talk.  The 
details  of  this  plan  it  would  scared}^  be  safe  to 
put  down  on  paper  at  present.  Or  rather,  I 
should  say,  the  outline  of  it,  for  we  have 
scarcely  reached  the  stage  of  details  yet.  It  is 
a  bold  scheme,  as  was  only  to  be  expected  of 
Tiel,  and  necessitated  going  very  thoroughly 
into  the  relative  naval  strengths  of  Germany 
and  Britain,  so  that  most  of  the  time  for  the 
rest  of  the  day  was  taken  up  with  a  discussion 
of  facts  and  figures.  And  through  it  all 
Eileen  sat  listening.  I  wonder  if  such  a  talk 
ever  before  had  such  a  charming  background? 

Now  at  last  I  am  in  my  room,  writing  this 
narrative  up  to  this  very  point.  It  is  long  past 
midnight,  but  sleep  is  keeping  very  far  away 
from  me.  The  weather  has  changed  to  a 
steady  drizzle  of  rain.  Outside,  the  night  is 
black  as  pitch,  and  mild  and  windless.     It  may 


232  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

partly  be  this  close  damp  air  that  drives  sleep 
away,  but  I  know  it  is  something  else  as  well. 

I  am  actually  wondering  if  I  can  marry  her ! 
She  must  surrender ;  that  is  certain,  for  I  have 
willed  it,  and  what  a  German  wills  with  all  his 
soul  takes  place.  It  must!  As  to  her  heart, 
I  feel  sure  that  her  kindness  means  what  a 
woman's  kindness  always  means — that  a  man 
has  only  to  persevere.     But  marriage? 

I  shall  never  meet  another  woman  like  her; 
that  is  certain!  Yet  an  adventm-ess,  a  paid 
agent  of  the  Secret  Service,  marrying  a  von 
Belke — is  it  quite  conceivable?  On  the  whole 
I  think  no.  But  we  can  be  very  happy  with- 
out that !  I  never  loved  a  woman  so  much  be- 
fore— that  is  my  last  word  for  the  night! 


II 

THURSDAY 

FRIDAY  morning  {very  early). — The 
events  of  yesterday  and  last  night  have 
left  me  with  more  to  think  about  than  I  seem 
to  have  wits  to  think  with.  Mein  Gott,  if  I 
could  see  daylight  through  everything !  Wliat 
is  ahead,  Heaven  knows,  but  here  is  what  is 
behind. 

Yesterday  morning  passed  as  the  afternoon 
before  had  passed,  in  further  discussion  of 
naval  statistics  with  Tiel — with  a  background 
of  Eileen.  Then  we  had  lunch,  and  soon 
afterwards  Tiel  put  on  an  oilskin  coat  and  went 
out.  A  thin  fine  drizzle  still  filled  the  air, 
drifting  in  clouds  before  a  rising  wind  and 
blotting  out  the  view  of  the  sea  almost  com- 
pletely. Behind  it  the  ships  were  doing  we 
knew  not  what ;  certainly  they  were  not  firing, 
but  we  could  see  nothing  of  them  at  all. 

A  little  later  Eileen  insisted  on  puttmg  on 
a  waterproof  and  going  out  too.     As  the  min- 

233 


234<  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

ister's  sister  she  had  to  visit  a  farm,  she  said. 
I  believed  her,  of  course,  though  I  had  ceased 
to  pay  much  attention  to  Tiel's  statements  as 
to  his  movements.  I  knew  that  he  knew  his 
own  business  thoroughly,  and  I  had  ceased  to 
mind  if  he  had  not  the  courtesy  to  take  me  into 
his  confidence.  After  all,  if  I  come  safely  out 
of  this  business,  I  am  not  likely  to  meet  such  as 
Tiel  again ! 

Left  to  myself,  I  picked  up  a  book  and  had 
been  reading  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
when  I  was  conscious  of  a  shadow  crossing  the 
window  and  heard  a  step  on  the  gravel.  Never 
doubting  that  it  was  either  Eileen  or  Tiel,  I 
still  sat  reading  until  I  was  roused  by  the  sound 
of  voices  in  the  hall,  just  outside  the  parlour 
door.  One  I  recognised  as  our  servant's,  the 
other  was  a  stranger's.  I  dropped  my  book 
and  started  hastily  to  my  feet,  and  as  I  did  so 
I  heard  the  stranger  say — 

"I  tell  you  I  recognise  her  coat.  My  good 
woman,  d'ye  think  I'm  blind?  I'm  coming  in 
to  wait  for  her,  I  tell  you." 

The  door  opened,  and  a  very  large  stout  gen- 
tleman appeared,  talking  over  his  shoulder  as 
he  entered. 


THURSDAY  235 

"When  Miss  Holland  comes  in,  tell  her  Mr. 
Craigie  is  waiting  to  see  her,"  said  he;  and 
with  that  he  closed  the  door  and  became  aware 
of  my  presence. 

For  a  moment  we  looked  at  one  another. 
My  visitor,  I  saw,  had  a  grey  beard,  a  large 
rosy  face,  and  twinkling  blue  eyes.  He 
looked  harmless  enough,  but  I  eyed  him  very 
warily,  as  you  can  readily  believe. 

"It's  an  awful  wet  day,"  said  he  in  a  m«ost 
friendly  and  affable  tone. 

I  agreed  that  it  was  detestable. 

"It's  fine  for  the  crops  all  the  same.  The 
oats  is  looking  veiy  well;  do  you  not  think 
so?" 

I  perceived  that  my  friend  was  an  agi'icul- 
turist,  and  endeavoured  to  hmiiour  him. 

"They  are  looking  splendid!"  I  said  with 
enthusiasm. 

He  sat  down,  and  we  exchanged  a  few  more 
remarks  on  the  weather  and  the  crops,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  had  filled  and  lit  a  pipe  and 
made  hiinself  entirely  at  home. 

"Are  you  staying  with  the  minister?"  he  in- 
quired presently. 

"I  am  visiting  him,"  I  replied  evasively. 


236  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"I  understand  Miss  Holland's  here  too," 
said  he,  with  an  extra  twinkle  in  his  eye. 

I  knew,  of  course,  that  he  must  mean  Eileen, 
and  I  must  confess  that  I  was  devoured  with 
curiosity. 

"She  is,"  I  said.     "Do  you  know  her?" 

"Know  her?  She  was  my  governess !  Has 
she  not  told  you  the  joke  of  how  she  left  me  in 
the  lurch?" 

It  flashed  across  my  mind  that  it  might  seem 
odd  if  I  were  to  admit  that  "Miss  Holland"  had 
said  nothing  about  this  mysterious  adventure. 

"Oh  yes,  she  has  told  us  all  about  it,"  I  re- 
plied with  assurance. 

Mr.  Craigie  laughed  heartily  at  what  was 
evidently  a  highly  hmnorous  recollection. 

"I  was  as  near  being  annoyed  at  the  time  as 
I  ever  was  in  my  life,"  said  he.  "But,  man, 
I've  had  some  proper  laughs  over  it  since." 

He  suddenly  grew  a  trifle  graver. 

"Mrs.  Craigie  isn't  laughing,  though.  Be- 
tween ourselves,  it's  she  that's  sent  me  on  this 
errand  to-day." 

He  winked  and  nodded  and  relit  his  pipe, 
while  I  endeavoured  to  see  a  little  light  through 


THURSDAY  237 

the  extraordinary  confusion  of  ideas  which  his 
remarks  had  caused  in  my  mind. 

"Miss  Holland  came  up  to  the  islands  as 
your  governess,  I  understand,"  I  said  in  as 
matter-of-fact  tone  as  I  could  compass. 

"We  got  her  through  a  JNIrs.  Armitage  in 
Kensington,"  said  Mr.  Craigie.  "It  seemed 
all  right — and  mind  you,  I'm  not  saying  it  isn't 
all  right  now!  Only  between  you  and  me, 
Mr. ?" 

"Wilson,"  I  said  promptly,  breathing  my 
thanks  to  Tiel  at  the  same  time. 

"You'll  be  a  relation  of  the  minister's  too, 
perhaps?" 

"I  am  on  government  business,"  I  replied 
in  a  suitable  tone  of  grave  mystery. 

"Damn  it,  Mr.  Wilson,"  exclaimed  my 
friend  with  surprising  energy,  "every  one  in 
the  country  seems  to  be  on  government  busi- 
ness nowadays — except  myself!  And  I've  got 
to  pay  their  salaries!  We're  asked  in  the 
catechism  what's  our  business  in  this  weary 
world,  and  damn  it,  I  can  answer  that  conun- 
drum now!  It's  just  to  pay  government 
officials  their  wages,  and  build  a  dozen  or  two 


238  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

new  Dreadnoughts,  and  send  six  million  peace- 
able men  into  the  army,  and  fill  a  pile  of  shells 
with  trinitrol-globule-paralysis,  or  whatever 
they  call  the  stuff,  and  all  this  on  the  rental  of 
an  estate  which  was  just  keeping  me  comfort- 
ably in  tobacco  before  this  infernal  murdering 
business  began!  Do  you  know  what  I'd  do 
with  that  Kaiser  if  I  caught  him?" 

I  looked  as  interested  as  possible,  and 
begged  for  information. 

"I'd  give  him  my  wife  and  my  income,  and 
see  how  he  liked  the  mess  he's  landed  me  in!" 

Though  Mr.  Craigie  had  spoken  with  con- 
siderable vehemence,  he  had  not  looked  at  all 
fierce,  and  now  his  not  usually  very  intellectual 
face  began  to  assume  a  thoughtful  expression. 

"He's  an  awful  fool,  yon  man!"  he  observed. 

"Which  man?"  I  inquired. 

"Billy,"  said  he,  and  with  a  gasp  I  recog- 
nised my  Emperor  in  this  brief  epithet.  "It's 
just  astounding  to  me  how  he  never  learns  that 
hot  coals  will  burn  his  fingers,  and  water  won't 
run  uphill!  He's  always  trying  the  silliest 
things." 

His  eyes  suddenly  began  to  twinkle  again, 
and  he  asked  abruptly — 


THURSDAY  239 

"Why's  the  Kaiser  like  my  boots?" 

I  gave  it  up  at  once. 

"Because  he'll  be  sold  again  soon!"  he 
chuckled.  "That's  one  of  my  latest,  Mr.  Wil- 
son. I've  little  to  do  in  these  weary  times  but 
make  riddles  to  amuse  my  girls  and  think  of 
dodges  for  getting  a  rise  out  of  my  wife.  I 
had  her  beautifully  the  other  day!  We've  two 
sons  at  the  front,  you  must  know,  and  one  of 
them's  called  Bob.  Well,  I  got  a  letter  from 
him,  and  suddenly  I  looked  awful  grave  and 
cried,  'My  God,  Bob's  been  blown  up' — ^you 
should  have  seen  Mrs.  Craigie  jump — 'by  his 
Colonel !'  said  I,  and  I  tell  you  she  was  nearly 
as  put  about  to  find  I'd  been  pulling  her  leg  as 
if  he'd  really  been  blovm  to  smithereens. 
Women  are  funny  things," 

I  fear  I  scarcely  laughed  as  much  as  he 
expected  at  this  extraordinary  instance  of 
woman's  obtuseness,  but  he  did  not  seem  to 
mind.  He  was  already  filling  another  pipe, 
and  having  found  an  audience,  was  evidently 
settling  down  to  an  afternoon's  conversation 
— or  rather  an  afternoon's  monologue,  for  it 
was  quite  clear  he  was  independent  of  any 
assistance  from  me.     I  was  resolved,  however. 


240  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

not  to  forgo  this  chance  of  learning  something 
more  about  Eileen. 

"You  were  talking  about  Miss  Holland," 
I  said  hurriedly,  before  he  had  time  to  get  un- 
der way  again. 

"Oh,  so  I  was.  And  that  reminds  me  I've 
come  here  just  to  make  some  inquiries  about 
the  girl." 

Again  his  blue  eyes  twinkled  furiously. 

"Why's  ]Miss  Holland  like  our  hall  clock?" 
he  inquired.  "I  may  mention  by  the  way  that 
it's  always  going  slow." 

Again  I  gave  it  up. 

"Because  you  take  her  hand  and  get  for- 
ward! That  was  one  for  my  wife's  benefit. 
It  made  her  fairly  sick!" 

"Do  you  mean,"  I  demanded,  "that  you 
were  actually  in  the  habit  of  holding  Miss — 
er — Holland's  hand?" 

"Oh,  no  fears.  I'm  past  that  game.  But 
Mrs.  Craigie  is  a  great  one  for  p's  and  q's 
and  not  being  what  she  calls  vulgar,  and  a 
joke  like  that  is  a  sure  draw.  I  get  her  every 
time  with  my  governess  riddles.  Here's  a 
good  one  now — Why's  a  pretty  governess 
like  a " 


THURSDAY  241 

In  spite  of  the  need  for  caution,  my  impa- 
tience was  fast  overcoming  me. 

"Then  you  have  been  sent  by  Mrs.  Craigie 
to  make  inquiries  about  Miss  Holland?"  I  in- 
terrupted a  trifle  brusquely. 

Mr.  Craigie  seemed  at  least  to  have  the 
merit  of  not  taking  offence  readily. 

"That's  the  idea,"  he  agreed.  "You  see,  it's 
this  way:  my  wife's  been  at  me  ever  since  our 
governess  bolted,  as  she  calls  it.  Well  now, 
what's  the  good  in  making  inquiries  about  a 
thing  that's  happened  and  finished  and  come  to 
an  end?  If  it  was  a  case  of  engaging  another 
governess,  that's  a  different  story.  I'd  take 
care  not  to  have  any  German  spies  next  time !" 

"German  spies!"  I  exclaimed,  with  I  hope 
well-simulated  horror;  "you  don't  mean  to 
suspect  Miss  Holland  of  that  surely!" 

"Oh,  'German  Spy'  is  just  a  kind  of  term 
nowadays  for  any  one  you  don't  know  all 
about,"  said  ^Ir.  Craigie  easily.  "Every  one 
you  haven't  seen  before  is  a  German  Spy.  I 
spotted  five  myself  in  my  own  parish  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  and  Mrs.  Craigie  wrote 
straight  off  to  the  Naval  Authorities  and  re- 
ported them  all." 


242  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"And  were  they  actually  spies?"  I  asked  a 
trifle  uncomfortably. 

"Not  one  of  them!"  laughed  he.  "The 
nearest  approach  was  a  tinker  who'd  had  Ger- 
man measles !  Ha,  ha !  It's  no  good  my  wife 
reporting  any  more  spies,  and  I  just  reminded 
her  of  that  whenever  she  worried  me,  and 
pulled  her  leg  a  bit  about  me  and  Miss  Hol- 
land being  in  the  game  together,  and  so  it  was 
all  right  till  she  got  wind  of  a  girl  who  was  the 
image  of  the  disappearing  governess  being 
here  at  the  manse  as  Mr.  Burnett's  sister,  and 
then  there  was  simply  no  quieting  her  till  I'd 
taken  the  car  and  run  over  to  see  what  there 
was  in  the  story.  Mind  you,  I  didn't  think 
there  was  a  word  of  truth  in  it  myself;  but  when 
I'd  got  here,  by  Jingo,  there  I  saw  Miss  Hol- 
land's tweed  coat  in  the  hall!  'Now  that's  a 
funny  kettle  of  fish,  isn't  it?'* 

I  didn't  say  so,  but  I  had  to  admit  that  he 
was  not  so  very  far  wrong.  The  audacity  of 
the  performance  was  quite  worthy  of  Tiel,  but 
its  utter  recklessness  seemed  not  in  the  least 
like  him.  Had  the  vanishing  governess's  em- 
ployer been  any  one  less  easy-going  than  Mr. 
Craigie,  how  readily  our  whole  scheme  might 


THURSDAY  243 

have  been  wrecked !  Even  as  it  was,  I  saw  de- 
tection staring  me  straight  in  the  face.  How- 
ever, I  put  on  as  cool  and  composed  a  face  as 
I  could. 

"I  understood  that  Miss  Holland's  brother 
had  written  to  you  about  it,"  I  said  brazenly. 

"Oh!  he  is  really  her  brother,  is  he?"  said  he, 
looking  at  me  very  knowingly. 

"Certainly." 

"He  being  Burnett  and  she  Holland,  eh?" 

"You  have  heard  of  half-brothers,  haven't 
you?"  I  inquired  with  a  condescending  smile. 

"Oh,  I  have  heard  of  them,"  winked  Mr. 
Craigie  as  good-humouredly  as  ever;  "only  I 
never  happened  to  have  heard  before  of  half- 
sisters  running  away  from  a  situation  they'd 
taken  without  a  word  of  warning,  just  when- 
ever their  half-brothers  whistled." 

"Did  Mr.  Burnett  whistle?"  I  inquired,  with 
(I  hope)  an  air  of  calm  and  shghtly  superior 
amusement. 

"Some  one  sent  her  a  wire,  and  I  presume 
it  was  Mr.  Burnett,"  said  he.     "By  Jingo!" 

He  stopped  suddenly  with  an  air  as  nearly 
approaching  excitement  as  was  conceivable  in 
such  a  gentleman. 


244  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"What's  the  matter?"  I  asked  a  trifle  anx- 
iously. 

"One  might  get  a  good  one  about  how  to 
make  a  governess  explode,  the  answer  being 
'Burn  it!'     By  Jove,  I  must  think  that  out." 

Before  I  could  recover  from  my  amazement 
at  this  extraordinary  attitude,  he  had  sud- 
denly resumed  his  shrewd  quizzical  look. 

"Are  you  an  old  friend  of  Mr.  Burnett?"  he 
inquired. 

"Oh,  not  very,"  I  said  carelessly. 

"Then  perhaps  you'll  not  be  offended  by 
my  saying  that  he  seems  a  rum  kind  of  bird," 
he  said  confidentially. 

"In  what  way?" 

"Well,  coming  up  here  just  for  a  Sunday 
to  preach  a  sermon,  and  then  not  preaching  it, 
but  staying  on  as  if  he'd  taken  a  lease  of  the 
manse — him  and  his  twelve-twenty-fourths  of 
a  sister!" 

"But,"  I  stammered,  before  I  could  think 
what  I  was  saying,  "I  thought  he  did  preach 
last  Sunday!" 

"Not  him!  Oh,  people  are  talking  a  lot 
about  it." 

This  revelation  left  me  absolutely  speech- 


THURSDAY  245 

less.  Tiel  had  told  me  distinctly  and  delib- 
erately that  he  had  gone  through  the  farce  of 
preaching  last  Sunday — and  now  I  learned 
that  this  was  a  lie.  What  was  worse,  he  had 
assured  me  that  he  was  causing  no  comment, 
and  I  now  was  told  that  people  were  "talking." 
Coming  straight  on  top  of  my  discovery  of  his 
reckless  conduct  of  Eileen's  affau',  what  was 
I  to  think  of  him? 

It  was  at  this  black  moment  that  Tiel  and 
Eileen  entered  the  room.  ]My  heart  stood  still 
for  an  instant  at  the  thought  that,  in  their  first 
sm-prise,  something  might  be  disclosed  or  some 
shp  made  by  one  of  us.  But  the  next  instant 
I  saw  that  they  had  learned  who  was  here  and 
were  perfectly  prepared. 

"How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Craigie!"  cried  Eileen 
radiantly. 

Mr.  Craigie  seemed  distinctly  taken  aback 
by  the  absence  of  all  signs  of  guilt  or  confusion. 

"I'm  keeping  as  well  as  I  can,  thank  you, 
considering  my  anxiety,"  said  he. 

"About  my  sister,  sir?"  inquired  Tiel  with 
his  most  brazen  effrontery,  coming  forward  and 
smihng  cordially.    "Surely  you  got  my  letter?" 

I  started.     The  man  clearly  had  been  at  the 


246  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

key -hole  during  the  latter  part  of  our  conver- 
sation, or  he  could  hardly  have  made  this  re- 
mark fit  so  well  into  what  I  had  said. 

"I'm  afraid  I  didn't." 

"Tut,  tut!"  said  Tiel,  with  a  marvellously 
well-assumed  air  of  annoyance.  "The  local 
posts  seem  to  have  become  utterly  disorgan- 
ised. Apparently  they  pay  no  attention  to 
civilian  letters  at  all." 

"You're  right  there,"  rephed  Mr.  Craigie 
with  feeling.  "The  only  use  we  are  for  is  just 
to  be  taxed." 

"What  must  you  think  of  us?"  cried  Eileen, 
whose  acting  was  fully  the  equal  of  Tiel's. 
"However,  my  brother  will  explain  everything 
now." 

"Yes,"  said  Tiel;  "if  Mr.  Craigie  happens 
to  be  going — and  I'm  afraid  we've  kept  him 
very  late  already — I'll  tell  him  all  about  it  as 
we  walk  back  to  his  car." 

He  gave  IVIr.  Craigie  a  confidential  glance 
as  though  to  indicate  that  he  had  something 
private  for  his  ear.  Our  visitor,  on  his  part, 
was  obviously  reluctant  to  leave  an  audience  of 
three,  especially  as  it  included  his  admired  gov- 
erness; but  Tiel  handled  the  situation  with 


THURSDAY  24T 

quite  extraordinary  urbanity  and  skill.  He 
managed  to  open  the  door  and  all  but  pushed 
Mr.  Craigie  out  of  the  room,  without  a  hint  of 
inhospitality,  and  solely  as  though  he  were 
seeking  only  his  convenience.  I  could  scarcely 
believe  that  this  was  the  man  who  had  made  at 
least  two  fatal  mistakes — mistakes,  at  all 
events,  which  had  an  ominously  fatal  appear- 
ance. 

When  Mr.  Craigie  had  wished  us  both  a 
very  friendly  good-bye  and  the  door  had  closed 
behind  him,  I  turned  instantly  to  Eileen  and 
cried,  perhaps  more  hotly  than  politely — 

"Well,  I  have  been  nicely  deceived  1" 

*'By  whom?"  she  asked  quietly. 

"By  you  a  little  and  by  Tiel  very  much!" 

"How  have  I  deceived  you?" 

I  looked  at  her  a  trifle  foolishly.  After 
all,  I  ought  to  have  realised  that  she  must  have 
had  some  curious  adventure  in  getting  into 
the  islands.  She  had  never  told  me  she  hadn't, 
and  now  I  had  merely  found  out  what  it  was. 

"You  never  told  me  about  your  governess 
adventure — or  Mr.  Craigie — or  that  you  were 
called  Holland,"  I  said  rather  lamely. 

She  merely  laughed. 


248  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"You  never  asked  me  about  my  adventures, 
or  I  should  have.  They  were  not  very  dis- 
creditable after  all." 

"Well,  anyhow,"  I  said,  "Tiel  has  deceived 
me  grossly,  and  I  am  going  to  wring  an  ex- 
planation out  of  him!" 

She  laid  her  hand  beseechingly  on  my  arm. 

"Don't  quarrel  with  him!"  she  said  ear- 
nestly. "It  will  do  no  good.  We  may  think 
what  we  like  of  some  of  the  things  he  does,  but 
we  have  got  to  trust  him!" 

"Trust  him!  But  how  can  I?  He  told  me 
he  preached  last  Sunday, — I  find  it  was  a  lie. 
He  said  nobody  in  the  parish  suspected  any- 
thing,— in  consequence  of  his  not  preaching,  I 
find  they  are  all  'talking.'  He  mismanaged 
your  coming  here  so  badly  that  if  old  Craigie 
weren't  next  door  to  an  imbecile  we  should  all 
have  been  arrested  days  ago.  How  can  I 
trust  him  now?" 

"Say  nothing  to  him  now,"  she  said  in  a  low 
voice.  "Wait  till  to-morrow!  I  think  he  will 
tell  you  then  very  frankly." 

There  was  something  so  significant  and  yet 
beseeching  in  her  voice  that  I  consented,  though 
not  very  graciously. 


THURSDAY  249 

"I  can  hardly  picture  Herr  Tiel  being  very 
*frank'I"  I  replied.     "But  if  you  ask  me " 

I  bowed  my  obedience,  and  then  catching  up 
her  hand  pressed  it  to  my  lips,  saying — 

"I  trust  you  absolutely!" 

When  I  looked  up  I  caught  a  look  in  her 
eye  that  I  could  make  nothing  of  at  all.  It 
was  beyond  question  very  kind,  yet  there 
seemed  to  be  something  sorrowful  too.  It 
made  her  look  so  ravishing  that  I  think  I  would 
have  taken  her  in  my  arms  there  and  then,  had 
not  Tiel  returned  at  that  moment. 

"Well,"  asked  Eileen,  "what  did  you  tell 
Mr.  Craigie?" 

"I  said  that  you  were  secretly  married  to 
Mr.  Wilson,  whose  parents  would  cut  him  off 
without  a  penny  if  they  suspected  the  entan- 
glement, and  this  was  the  only  plan  by  which 
you  could  spend  a  few  days  together.  Of 
course  I  swore  him  to  secrecy." 

For  a  moment  I  hesitated  whether  to  resent 
this  liberty,  or  to  feel  a  little  pleased,  or  to  be 
amused.  Eileen  laughed  gaih%  and  so  I 
laughed  too.  And  that  was  the  end  (so  far) 
of  my  afternoon  adventure. 


Ill 

THURSDAY  NIGHT 

I  WE  NT  up  to  my  room  early  in  the  even- 
ing. Eileen  had  been  very  silent,  and 
about  nine  o'clock  she  bade  us  good-night  and 
left  us.  To  sit  alone  with  Tiel,  feeling  as  I 
did  and  yet  bound  by  a  promise  not  to  upbraid 
him,  was  intolerable,  and  so  I  left  the  parlour 
a  few  minutes  after  she  did.  As  I  went  down 
the  passage  to  the  back,  my  way  lit  only  by  the 
candle  I  was  carrying,  I  was  struck  with  a 
sound  I  had  heard  in  that  house  before,  only 
never  so  loudly.  It  was  the  droning  of  the 
wind  through  the  crevices  of  some  door,  and 
the  whining  melancholy  note  in  the  stillness  of 
that  house  of  divided  plotters  and  confidences 
withheld,  did  nothing  to  raise  my  spirits. 

When  I  reached  my  room  I  realised  what 
had  caused  the  droning.  The  wind  had 
changed  to  a  new  quarter,  and  as  another  con- 
sequence my  chimney  was  smoking  badly  and 

250 


THURSDAY  NIGHT  251 

the  room  was  filled  with  a  pungent  blue  cloud. 
It  is  curious  how  events  arise  as  consequences 
of  trifling  and  utterly  different  circumstances. 
I  tried  opening  my  door  and  then  my  window, 
but  still  the  fire  smoked  and  the  cloud  refused 
to  disperse.  Then  I  had  an  inspiration.  I 
have  mentioned  a  large  cupboard.  It  was  so 
large  as  almost  to  be  a  minute  room,  and  I  re- 
membered that  it  had  a  skylight  in  its  sloping 
roof.  I  opened  this,  and  as  the  room  at  once 
began  to  clear,  I  left  it  open. 

And  then  I  paced  the  floor  and  smoked  and 
thought.  What  was  to  be  made  of  these  very 
disquieting  events?  Clearly  Tiel  was  either  a 
much  less  capable  and  clever  man  than  he  was 
reputed — a  bit  of  a  fraud  in  fact — or  else  he 
was  carrying  his  fondness  for  mysteiy  and  for 
suddenly  springing  brilliant  surprises,  like 
conjuring  tricks,  upon  people,  to  the  most  ex- 
treme lengths.  If  he  were  really  carrying  out 
a  cunning  deliberate  policy  in  not  preaching 
last  Sunday,  good  and  well,  but  it  was  intoler- 
able that  he  should  have  deceived  me  about  it. 
It  seemed  quite  a  feasible  theory  to  suppose 
that  he  had  got  out  of  conducting  the  service  on 
some  excuse  in  order  that  he  might  be  asked  to 


252  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

stay  longer  and  preach  next  Sunday  instead. 
But  then  he  had  dehberately  told  me  he  had 
preached,  and  that  the  people  had  been  so 
pleased  that  they  had  invited  him  to  preach 
again.  It  sounded  like  a  schoolboy's  boast- 
fulness  ! 

Of  course  if  he  were  the  sort  of  man  who 
would  (like  myself)  have  drawn  the  line  at 
conducting  a  bogus  religious  service,  I  could 
quite  well  understand  his  getting  out  of  it 
somehow.  But  when  I  remembered  his  tale  of 
the  murder  of  the  real  Mr.  Burnett,  I  dis- 
missed that  hj^pothesis.  Besides,  why  deceive 
me  in  any  case?  I  daresay  I  should  have  felt 
a  little  anxious  as  to  the  result  if  he  had  evaded 
the  duty  he  had  professed  to  come  up  and  per- 
form, but  would  he  care  twopence  about  that? 
I  did  not  believe  it. 

And  then  his  method  of  getting  Eileen  into 
the  islands,  though  ingenious  enough  (if  not 
very  original),  had  been  marred  by  the  most 
inconceivable  recklessness.  Surely  some  bet- 
ter scheme  could  have  been  devised  for  getting 
her  out  of  the  Craigies'  house  than  a  sudden 
flight  without  a  word  of  explanation — and  a 
flight,  moreover,  to  another  house  in  the  same 


THURSDAY  NIGHT  253 

island  where  gossip  would  certainly  spread  in 
the  course  of  a  very  few  days.  Of  course  JNIr. 
Craigie's  extraordinary  character  gave  the 
scheme  a  chance  it  never  deserved,  but  was  Tiel 
really  so  diabolically  clever  that  he  actually 
counted  on  that?  How  could  he  have  known 
so  much  of  Craigie's  character?  Indeed,  that 
explanation  was  inconceivable. 

And  then  again,  why  had  Eileen  consented 
to  such  a  wild  plan?  That  neither  of  them 
should  have  realised  its  drawbacks  seemed 
quite  extraordinary.  There  must  be  some 
deep  cunning  about  it  that  escaped  me  alto- 
gether. If  it  were  not  so,  we  were  lost  indeed ! 
And  so  I  resolved  to  believe  that  there  was 
more  wisdom  in  the  scheme  than  I  realised,  and 
simply  leave  it  at  that. 

Thereupon  I  sat  down  and  wrote  for  an 
hour  or  two  to  keep  me  from  thinking  further 
on  the  subject,  and  at  last  about  midnight  I 
resolved  to  go  to  bed.  The  want  of  fresh  air 
had  been  troubling  me  greatly,  and  it  struck 
me  that  a  safe  way  of  getting  a  httle  would  be 
to  put  my  head  through  the  open  skylight  for 
a  few  minutes.  It  was  quite  dark  in  the  cup- 
board, so  that  no  light  could  escape;  and  I 


254.  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

brought  a  chair  along,  stood  on  it,  and  looked 
out,  with  my  head  projecting  from  the  midst  of 
the  sloping  slates,  and  a  beautiful  cool  breeze 
refreshing  my  face. 

So  cool  was  the  wind  that  there  was  evi- 
dently north  in  it,  and  this  was  confirmed  by 
the  sky,  which  literally  blazed  with  stars.  I 
could  see  dimly  but  pretty  distinctly  the  out- 
buildings at  the  back  of  the  house,  and  the  road 
that  led  to  the  highway,  and  the  dark  rim  of 
hills  beyond.  Suddenly  I  heard  the  back  door 
gently  open,  and  still  as  I  had  stood  on  my 
chair  before,  I  became  like  a  statue  now.  In 
a  moment  the  figure  of  Tiel  appeared,  and 
from  a  flash  of  light  I  saw  that  he  carried  his 
electric  torch.  He  walked  slowly  towards  the 
highroad  till  he  came  to  a  low  wall  that  divided 
the  fields  at  the  side,  and  then  from  behind  the 
wall  up  jumped  the  form  of  a  man,  illuminated 
for  an  instant  by  a  flash  from  the  torch,  and 
then  just  distinguishable  in  the  gloom. 

I  held  my  breath  and  waited  for  the  crack 
of  a  pistol-shot,  gently  withdrawing  my  head  a 
little,  and  prepared  to  rush  down  and  take  part 
in  the  fray.  But  there  was  not  a  sound  save  a 
low  murmur  of  voices,  far  too  distant  and  too 


THURSDAY  NIGHT  255 

hushed  for  me  to  catch  a  syllable  of  what  they 
were  saying.  And  then  after  two  or  three 
minutes  I  saw  Tiel  turn  and  start  to  stroll 
back  again.  But  at  that  moment  my  observa- 
tions ceased,  for  I  stepped  hastily  down  from 
my  chair  and  stood  breathlessly  waiting  for 
him  to  i-un  up  to  my  room. 

He  was  quiet  almost  as  a  mouse.  I  had  not 
heard  him  pass  through  the  house  as  he  went 
out,  and  I  barely  heard  a  sound  now  as  he  re- 
turned. But  I  heard  enough  to  know  that  he 
had  gone  off  to  bed,  and  did  not  propose  to 
pay  me  a  visit. 

"What  in  Heaven's  name  did  it  mean?"  I 
asked  mj^^self. 

A  dozen  wild  and  alarming  theories  flashed 
through  my  mind,  and  then  at  last  I  saw  a  ray 
of  comfort.  Perhaps  this  was  only  a  ren- 
dezvous with  Ashington,  or  some  subordinate 
in  his  pay.  It  was  not  a  very  brilliant  ray,  for 
the  more  I  thought  over  it,  the  more  unlikely 
it  seemed  that  a  rendezvous  should  take  place 
at  that  spot  and  in  that  inconvenient  fashion, 
when  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  Ashington 
or  his  emissary  from  entering  the  house  by  the 
front  door  and  holding  their  conversation  in 


256  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

the  parlour.  However,  it  seemed  absolutely 
the  only  solution,  short  of  supposing  that  the 
house  was  watched,  and  so  I  accepted  it  for 
what  it  was  worth  in  the  meantime,  and  turned 
into  bed. 

My  sleep  was  very  broken,  and  in  the  early 
morning  I  felt  so  wide  awake,  and  my  thoughts 
were  so  restlessly  busy,  that  I  jumped  up  and 
resolved  to  have  another  peep  out  of  the  sky- 
light. Very  quietly  I  climbed  on  the  chaii'  and 
put  my  head  through  again.  There  was  the 
man,  pacing  slowly  away  from  me,  from  the 
wall  towards  the  highroad !  I  studied  his  back 
closely,  and  of  two  things  I  felt  certain:  he 
was  not  a  sailor  of  any  sort — officer  or  blue- 
jacket— and  yet  he  walked  like  a  di'illed  man. 
A  tall,  square-shouldered  fellow,  in  dark  plain 
clothes,  who  walks  with  a  short  step  and  a  stiff 
back — what  does  that  suggest?  A  policeman 
of  some  sort — constable  or  detective,  no  doubt 
about  that! 

At  the  road  he  turned,  evidently  to  stroll 
back  again,  and  down  went  my  head.  I  did 
not  venture  to  look  out  again,  nor  was  there 
any  need.  I  dressed  quickly,  and  this  time 
put  on  my  uniform.     This  precaution  seemed 


THURSDAY  NIGHT  257 

urgently — and  ominously — called  for!  And 
then  I  slipped  downstairs,  went  to  the  front 
hall,  and  up  the  other  stairs,  and  quietly  called 
"Tiel!"  For  I  confess  I  was  not  disposed  to 
sit  for  two  or  three  hours  waiting  for  informa- 
tion. 

At  my  second  cry  he  appeared  at  his  bed- 
room door,  prompt  as  usual. 

"What's  the  matter?"  he  asked. 

"Who  did  you  speak  to  last  night?"  I  asked 
point-blank. 

He  looked  at  me  for  an  instant  and  then 
smiled. 

"Good  heavens,  it  wasn't  you,  was  it?"  he 
inquired. 

"Me!"  I  exclaimed. 

"I  wondered  how  you  knew  otherwise." 

I  told  him  briefly. 

"And  now  tell  me  exactly  what  happened!" 
I  demanded. 

"Certainly,"  said  he  quietly.  "I  went  out, 
as  I  often  do  last  thing  at  night,  to  see  that  the 
coast  is  clear,  and  this  time  I  found  it  wasn't. 
A  man  jumped  up  from  behind  the  wall  just  as 
you  saw." 

"Who  was  he?" 


258  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"I  can  only  suspect.  I  saw  him  for  an  in- 
stant by  the  hght  of  my  torch,  and  then  it 
seemed  less  suspicious  to  put  it  out." 

"I  don't  see  that,"  I  said. 

"I  am  a  cautious  man,"  smiled  Tiel,  as  easily 
as  though  the  incident  had  not  been  of  life  and 
death  importance. 

"And  what  did  he  say  to  you?"  I  demanded 
impatiently. 

"I  spoke  to  him  and  asked  him  what  he  was 
doing  there." 

"What  did  he  say  to  that?" 

"I  gave  him  no  chance  to  answer — ^because, 
if  the  answer  was  what  I  feared,  he  wouldn't 
make  it.  I  simply  told  him  he  would  catch 
cold  if  he  sat  there  on  the  grass,  and  gave  him 
some  details  about  my  own  misfortune  in  get- 
ting rheumatism  through  sleeping  in  damp 
sheets." 

"I  see,"  I  said;  "you  simply  tried  to  bluff 
him  by  behaving  hke  an  ordinary  simple- 
minded  honest  clergyman?" 

Tiel  nodded. 

"It  was  the  only  thing  to  do — unless  I  had 
shot  him  there  and  then.  And  there  might 
have  been  more  men  for  all  I  knew." 


THURSDAY  NIGHT  259 

"Well,"  I  said,  "I  can  tell  you  something 
more  about  that  man.  He  is  patrolling  the 
road  at  the  back  at  this  very  moment." 

Tiel  looked  grave  enough  now. 

"It  looks  as  if  the  house  were  being 
watched,"  he  said  rather  slowly. 

"Looks?     It  is  being  watched!" 

He  thought  for  a  moment. 

"Evidently  they  only  suspect  so  far.  They 
can  know  nothing,  or  they  wouldn't  be  content 
with  merely  watching.  Thank  you  for  telling 
me.     We'n  talk  about  it  later." 

Still  cool  as  a  cucumber  he  re-entered  his 
room,  and  I  returned  to  mj^  own. 

What  can  be  done?  Nothing!  I  can  only 
sit  and  wait  and  keep  mj^self  from  worrying  by 
writing.  I  have  made  up  my  fire  and  my  door 
is  locked,  so  that  this  manuscript  will  be  in 
flames  before  any  one  can  enter,  if  it  comes  to 
the  worst.  Recalling  the  words  of  Tiel  a  few 
days  ago,  I  shiver  a  little  to  think  of  what  is 
ahead.     Suspicion  has  begun! 


IV 

FRIDAY 

THIS  is  written  under  very  different  cir- 
cumstances— and  in  a  different  place. 
My  last  words  were  written  with  my  eyes  shut ; 
these  are  written  with  them  open,  but  I  shall 
simply  tell  what  happened  as  calmly  as  I  can. 
Let  the  events  speak ;  I  shall  make  no  comment 
in  the  meanwhile. 

On  that  Friday  morning  our  breakfast  was 
converted  into  a  council  of  war.  We  all  three 
discussed  the  situation  gravely  and  frankly. 
I  felt  tempted  to  say  some  very  bitter  words  to 
Tiel,  for  it  seemed  to  me  quite  obvious  that  it 
was  simply  his  gross  mismanagement  which 
had  brought  us  to  the  edge  of  this  precipice; 
but  I  am  glad  now  I  refrained.  I  was  at  no 
pains,  however,  to  be  over-polite. 

"There  is  nothing  to  be  done  in  the  mean- 
while, I'm  afraid,"  said  he. 

This  coolness  seemed  to  me  all  very  well  in 
its  proper  season,  but  not  at  present. 

260 


FRIDAY  261 

*'Yes,  there  is,"  I  said  urgently.  *'We 
might  get  out  of  this  house  and  look  for  some 
other  refuge!" 

He  shook  his  head. 

"Not  by  daylight,  if  it  is  being  watched." 

"Besides,"  said  Eileen,  "this  is  the  day  we 
have  been  waiting  for.  We  don't  want  to  be 
far  away,  do  we?" 

"Personally,"  I  said,  "it  seems  to  me  that 
as  I  cannot  be  where  I  ought  to  be"  ( and  here 
I  looked  at  Tiel  somewhat  bitterly),  "with  my 
brave  comrades  in  their  attack  on  our  enemies. 
I  should  much  prefer  to  make  for  a  safer  place 
than  this — if  one  can  be  found." 

"It  can't,"  said  Tiel  briefly. 

And  that  indeed  became  more  and  more 
obvious  the  longer  we  talked  it  over.  Had  our 
house  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  wood,  or  had  a 
kindly  fog  blown  out  of  the  North  Sea,  we 
might  have  made  a  move.  As  it  was,  I  had  to 
agree  that  it  would  be  sheer  folly,  before  night- 
fall anyhow;  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but 
waiting. 

To  add  to  the  painfulness  of  this  ordeal,  I 
found  myself  obliged  to  remain  in  my  room, 
now  that  I  had  resumed  my  uniform.     This 


26a  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

time  it  did  not  need  Tiel  to  bid  me  take  this 
precaution.  In  fact,  I  was  amazed  to  hear 
him  suggesting  that  I  would  be  just  as  safe  in 
the  parlour.  At  the  time  I  naturally  failed 
altogether  to  understand  this  departure  from 
his  usual  caution,  and  I  asked  him  sarcastically 
if  he  wished  to  precipitate  a  catastrophe. 

"We  have  still  a  good  deal  to  discuss,"  said 
he. 

"I  thought  there  was  nothing  more  to  be 
said." 

"I  mean  in  connection  with  the  other 
scheme." 

"The  devil  may  take  the  other  scheme!"  said 
I,  "anyhow  till  we  escape  from  this  trap. 
What  is  the  good  in  planning  ahead,  with  the 
house  watched  night  and  day?" 

"We  only  suspect  it  is  watched,"  said  he 
calmly. 

"Suspect!"  I  cried.  "We  are  not  idiots, 
and  why  should  we  pretend  to  be?" 

And  so  I  went  up  to  my  room  and  spent  the 
most  miserable  and  restless  day  of  my  life. 
How  slowly  the  hours  passed,  no  words  of 
mine  can  give  the  faintest  idea.  In  my  pres- 
ent state  of  mind  writing  was  impossible,  and 


FRIDAY  263 

I  tried  to  distract  myself  by  reading  novels; 
but  they  were  English  novels,  and  every  word 
in  them  seemed  to  gall  me.  I  implored  Eileen 
to  come  and  keep  me  company.  She  came  up 
once  for  a  little,  but  the  devil  seemed  to  have 
possessed  her,  for  I  felt  no  sympathy  coming 
from  her  at  all ;  and  when  at  last  I  tried  to  be 
a  little  affectionate  she  first  repulsed  me,  say- 
ing it  was  no  time  for  that,  and  then  she  left 
me.  With  baffled  love  added  to  acute  anxiety, 
you  can  picture  my  condition ! 

For  the  first  part  of  that  horrible  day  I  kept 
listening  for  some  sign  of  the  police,  and  now 
and  then  looking  out  from  the  skylight  at  the 
back,  but  the  watcher  was  no  longer  visible, 
and  not  a  fresh  step  or  voice  was  to  be  heard 
in  the  house.  My  door  stood  locked,  my  fire 
was  blazing,  and  my  papers  lay  ready  to  be 
consimied,  and  at  moments  I  positively  longed 
to  see  them  blazing  and  myself  arrested,  and 
get  it  over,  yet  nothing  happened. 

In  the  afternoon  the  direction  of  my 
thoughts  began  to  change  as  the  hour  ap- 
proached when  the  fleet  should  sail  and  my 
country  reap  the  reward  of  the  enterprise  and 
fidelity  which  I  felt  conscious  I  had  shown. 


264<  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

and  the  sacrifice  which  I  feared  I  should  have 
to  make.  I  began  to  make  brief  visits  to  the 
parlour  to  look  out  of  the  window  and  see  if 
I  could  see  any  signs  of  movement  in  the  Ar- 
mada. And  then  for  the  second  time  I  saw 
Tiel  in  a  genial  cheerful  humour,  and  this  time 
there  was  no  doubt  of  the  cause.  He  too  was 
in  a  state  of  tension,  and  his  mind,  like  mine, 
was  running  on  the  coming  drama.  In  fact,  as 
the  afternoon  wore  on,  his  thoughts  were  so 
entirely  wrapped  up  in  this  that  he  frankly 
talked  of  nothing  else.  Was  I  sure  we  should 
have  at  least  four  submarines?  he  asked  me; 
and  would  they  be  brought  well  in  and  take  the 
risk?  Indeed,  I  never  heard  him  ask  so  many 
questions,  or  appear  so  pleased  as  he  did  when 
I  reassured  him  on  all  these  points. 

As  for  Eileen,  she  was  quite  as  excited  as 
either  of  us,  and  when  Tiel  was  not  asking  me 
questions,  she  was;  until  once  again  prudence 
drove  me  back  to  my  room.  On  one  of  my 
visits  she  gave  us  some  tea,  but  that  is  the  only 
meal  I  remember  any  of  us  eating  between 
our  early  and  hurried  lunch  and  the  evening 
when  the  crash  came. 

The  one  thing  I  looked  for  as  I  gazed  out  of 


FRIDAY  265 

that  window  was  the  rising  of  smoke  from  the 
battle-fleet,  and  at  last  I  saw  it.  Stream  after 
stream,  black  or  grey,  gradually  mounted,  first 
from  one  leviathan  and  then  from  another,  till 
the  air  was  darkened  hundreds  of  feet  above 
them,  and  if  our  flotilla  were  in  such  a  posi- 
tion that  they  could  look  for  this  sign,  they 
must  have  seen  it.  This  time  I  returned  to 
my  room  with  a  heaii;  a  little  lightened. 

"I  have  done  my  duty,"  I  said  to  myself, 
"come  what  may  of  it!" 

And  I  do  not  think  that  any  impartial 
reader  will  deny  that,  so  far  as  my  own  share  of 
this  enterprise  was  concerned,  I  had  done  my 
very  utmost  to  make  it  succeed. 

The  next  time  I  came  do^vn  my  spirits  rose 
higher  still,  and  for  the  moment  I  quite  forgot 
the  danger  in  which  I  stood.  The  light 
cruisers,  the  advance-guard  of  the  fleet,  were 
beginning  to  move!  This  time  when  I  went 
back  to  my  room  I  forced  myself  to  read  two 
whole  chapters  of  a  futile  novel  before  I  again 
took  off  the  lid  and  peeped  in  to  see  how  the 
stew  was  cooking.  The  instant  I  had  finished 
the  second  chapter  I  leapt  up  and  opened  the 
door — and  then  I  stood  stock-still  and  listened. 


^66  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

A  distant  sound  of  voices  reached  me,  and 
suddenly,  clear  above  the  indistinct  murmur,  a 
laugh  rang  out. 

You  have  heard  of  animals  stiffening  and 
trembling  when  they  hear  the  menacing  cry  of 
some  wild  beast  they  have  never  seen  or  even 
heard  before?  Their  instinct  warns  them  of 
deadly  danger;  and  so  it  was  with  me.  I  did 
not  tremble,  but  every  muscle  stiffened.  The 
very  fact  that  I  had  never  heard  that  laugh  be- 
fore was  cause  for  alarm  in  itself,  but  there 
was,  besides,  a  quality  in  it  that  seemed  to  warn 
me  on  the  instant  against  a  peril  unknown  but 
terrible. 

For  a  few  seconds  I  stood  petrified,  and  then 
with  an  effort  of  will,  I  turned  silently,  fled 
into  my  room,  and  locked  my  door.  In  an- 
other moment  my  papers  were  in  my  hand  and 
I  was  holding  them  over  the  fire.  Here,  alas ! 
my  instinct  failed  me.  I  meant  to  throw  them 
instantly  into  the  flames,  but  on  second 
thoughts  (supposed  to  be  the  best)  I  hesitated, 
and  finally  decided  to  wait  till  I  heard  foot- 
steps approaching.  On  that  wooden  stair  I 
told  myself  I   should  hear  them  distinctly. 


FRIDAY  267 

But  not  a  sound  reached  me;  not  so  much  as 
the  faintest  creak. 

Minute  after  minute  passed  till  quite  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  must  have  dragged  by,  and  then 
with  another  effort  I  tore  myself  away  from 
the  fire  and  listened  from  the  middle  of  the 
room.  Not  a  sound  still!  I  tip-toed  to  the 
door,  opened  it  stealthily,  and  looked  out  once 
more.  Again  the  murmur  of  voices,  and 
through  them  suddenly  came  that  laugh,  but 
muffled  this  time  so  that  if  my  senses  had  not 
been  preternaturally  acute  I  should  scarcely 
have  heard  it  at  all.  But  I  did  hear  it,  and 
instinctively  I  leapt  back,  and  the  next  mo- 
ment the  door  was  shut  and  locked. 

"Be  calm  and  do  not  act  like  a  fool!"  I  said 
to  myself. 

To  carry  out  this  advice  I  lit  a  cigarette,  and 
I  was  pleased  to  see  that  my  fingers  scarcely 
quivered. 

*'  'The  nation  with  the  strongest  nerves  will 
win'!"  I  repeated  to  myself,  and  I  dehberately 
sat  down  and  smoked  my  cigarette  to  the  end. 

My  hand  was  raised  to  throw  the  stump  into 
the   fire   when — 'Rat-tat!' — ^very   gently    but 


268  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

quite  distinctly  I  heard  two  little  taps  upon 
the  door.     And  yet  the  staii's  had  not  creaked ! 

For  an  instant  I  sat  there  like  the  statue 
of  a  man  flinging  a  cigarette  into  the  fire. 
Then  I  finished  the  action,  rose  boldly,  and 
warily  crossed  fhe  room.  This  time  I  did  dis- 
tinctly hear  a  very  gentle  footfall  apparently 
descending  the  stair.  I  turned  the  key  and 
looked  out. 

"Come!"  whispered  a  voice  that  thrilled  me. 

Dusk  was  thickening  in  the  house  by  now, 
but  I  saw  her  plainly  half  way  downstairs, 
beckoning  to  me  with  a  smile  in  her  eye. 

"Who  is  here?"  I  whispered  urgently. 

She  gave  a  little  reassuring  nod  and  simply 
beckoned  again,  this  time  from  the  foot  of  the 
stair.  Could  any  living  creature  but  a  woman 
have  done  such  a  thing,  or  anything  but  a  man 
have  been  fool  enough  to  dismiss  his  warning 
doubts  and  obey? 

I  followed  that  graceful  form,  as  a  poor 
needle  follows  a  magnet,  down  those  stairs  and 
along  the  passage.  Without  pausing  to  do 
more  than  smile  to  me  once  over  her  shoulder, 
she  opened  the  parlour  door  and  passed  in. 
Sub-consciously  I  noticed  that  the  door  oppo- 


FRIDAY  269 

site — the  door  of  the  drawingroom  we  practic- 
ally never  used — was  ajar  and  that  it  seemed 
to  quiver  slightly  for  an  instant,  but  my  eyes 
and  thoughts  were  so  intent  on  the  figure  be- 
fore me  that  I  simply  followed  her  and  my  fate 
straight  into  that  famihar  parlour. 

In  the  room  stood  one  man  a  couple  of  paces 
or  so  from  the  door,  facing  me  as  I  entered. 
It  was  the  gross  and  burly  Ashington. 

"Well,  Herr  Belke!"  said  he. 

It  was  his  expression  and  his  voice  that  sud- 
denly dispersed  the  clouds  of  mystery  and 
showed  me  mortal  danger  staring  me  in  the 
face.  Instead  of  the  morose  and  surly  indi- 
vidual I  had  met  before,  he  stood  there  the 
incarnation  of  the  jovial  sailor.  Instantly  I 
knew  whose  laugh  that  had  been,  and  knew  too 
that  his  smile  meant  but  one  thing — ^treachery. 

"What  means  this!"  I  exclaimed,  stopping 
short  just  over  the  threshold  and  my  hand  go- 
ing straight  into  my  revolver  pocket. 

"Robin!"  he  cried,  as  to  one  behind  me. 

I  had  not  time  to  turn  my  head  before  two 
arms  like  iron  bands  were  round  me  and  I 
knew  now  why  that  door  behind  me  had  been 
ajar. 


S70  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"Herr  Gott  von  Bentheim!"  I  cried,  as  I 
staggered  forward  under  the  shock  of  my  un- 
seen foe's  attack. 

The  next  moment  I  had  been  flung  into  a 
chair  and  Tiel  stood  over  me  holding  my  re- 
volver in  his  hand. 

"Please  consider  yourself  a  prisoner  of  war, 
Mr.  Belke,"  he  said  in  his  infernal  icy  voice. 

Even  then  I  had  not  grasped  the  whole 
truth. 

"A  prisoner  of  war!"  I  exclaimed.  "And 
what  the  devil  are  you,  Herr  Tiel?  A 
traitor?" 

"You  have  got  my  name  a  little  wrong," 
said  he,  with  that  icy  smile  of  his.  "I  am  Com- 
mander Blacklock  of  the  British  Navy,  so  you 
can  surrender  either  to  me  or  to  Captain 
Phipps,  whichever  you  choose." 

"Phipps !"  I  gasped,  for  I  remembered  that 
as  the  name  of  a  member  of  Jellicoe's  staff. 

"That's  me,  old  man,"  said  the  gross  person 
with  insufferable  familiarity.  "The  Honour- 
able Thomas  Bainbridge  Ashington  would 
have  a  fit  if  he  looked  in  the  glass  and  saw  this 
mug!" 


FRIDAY  271 

"Then  I  understand  I  am  betraj^ed?"  I 
asked  as  calmly  as  I  could. 

"You're  nabbed,"  said  Captain  Phipps,  with 
brutal  British  slang,  "and  let  me  tell  you  that's 
better  than  being  dead,  which  you  would  have 
been  if  you'd  rejoined  your  boat." 

I  could  not  quite  control  my  feelings. 

"What  has  happened?"  I  cried. 

"We've  bagged  the  whole  four — just  at  the 
very  spot  on  the  chart  which  you  and  I  ar- 
ranged!" chuckled  the  great  brute. 


At  this  point  Lieutenant  von  Belke's  com- 
ments become  a  httle  too  acid  for  publication, 
and  it  has  been  considered  advisable  that  the 
narrative  should  be  finished  by  the  Editor. 


PART  V 

A  FEW  CONCLUDING  CHAPTERS 
BY  THE  EDITOR 


PART  V 

A  FEW  CONCLUDING  CHAPTERS 
BY  THE  EDITOR 


TIEL  S   JOUENEY 

FOR  the  moment  the  fortitude  of  the  hap- 
less young  heutenant  completely  broke 
down  when  he  heard  these  tidings.  It  took 
him  a  minute  to  control  his  voice,  and  then  he 
said — 

"Please  give  me  back  my  revolver.  I  give 
you  my  word  of  honour  not  to  use  it  on  any 
of  you  three." 

Commander  Blacklock  shook  his  head. 

"I  am  sorry  we  can't  oblige  you,"  said  he. 

"Poor  old  chap,"  said  Phipps  with  genial 
sympathy ;  "it's  rotten  bad  luck  on  you,  I  must 
admit." 

These  well-meant  words  seemed  only  to  in- 
cense the  captive. 

276 


276  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"I  do  not  wish  your  damned  sympathy!" 
he  cried. 

"Hush,  hush !  Ladies  present,"  said  Phipps 
soothingly. 

Von  Belke  turned  a  lowering  eye  on  Miss 
Holland. 

She  had  said  not  a  word,  and  scarcely  moved 
since  he  came  into  the  room,  but  her  breath- 
ing was  a  little  quicker  than  usual,  and  her 
gaze  had  followed  intently  each  speaker  in 
turn. 

"Ach  so!"  he  said;  "the  decoy  is  still  present. 
I  had  forgot." 

Blacklock's  eye  blazed  dangerously. 

"Mr.  Belke,"  he  said,  "Captain  Phipps  and 
I  have  pleaded  very  strongly  that,  in  spite  of 
your  exceedingly  ambiguous  position,  and  the 
fact  that  you  have  not  always  been  wearing 
uniform,  you  should  not  suffer  the  fate  of  a 
spy.  But  if  you  make  any  more  remarks  like 
your  last,  I  warn  you  we  shall  withdraw  this 
plea." 

For  the  first  time  Eileen  spoke. 

"Please  do  not  think  it  matters  to  me.  Cap- 
tain Blacklock "  she  began. 

In  a  whisper  Phipps  interrupted  her. 


TIEL'S  JOURNEY  a77 

"Eye-wash!"  he  said.  "It's  the  only  way 
to  treat  a  Hun — show  hini  the  stick!" 

The  hint  had  certainly  produced  its  effect. 
Von  Belke  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  merely 
remarked — 

"I  am  your  prisoner.     I  say  nothing  more." 

"That's  distinctly  wiser,"  said  Captain 
Phipps,  with  a  formidable  scowl  at  the  captive 
and  a  wink  at  Miss  Holland. 

For  a  few  moments  von  Belke  kept  his  word, 
and  sat  doggedly  silent.  Then  suddenly  he 
exclaimed — 

"But  I  do  not  understand  all  this!  How 
should  a  German  agent  be  a  British  officer? 
My  Government  knew  all  about  Tiel — I  was 
told  to  be  under  his  orders — it  is  impossible 
you  can  be  he !" 

Blacklock  turned  to  the  other  two. 

"I  almost  think  I  owe  Mr.  Belke  an  explan- 
ation," he  said  with  a  smile. 

"Yes,"  cried  Eileen  eagerly,  "do  tell  him, 
and  then — then  he  will  understand  a  little 
better." 

Blacklock  filled  a  pipe  and  leaned  his  back 
against  the  fireplace,  a  curious  mixture  of 
clergj^man  in  his  attire  and  keen  professional 


278  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

sailor  in  his  voice  and  bearing,  now  that  all 
need  for  pretence  was  gone. 

"The  story  I  told  you  of  the  impersonation 
and  attempted  murder  of  Mr.  Alexander  Bur- 
nett," he  began,  "was  simply  a  repetition  of  the 
tale  told  me  by  Adolph  Tiel  at  Inverness — 
where,  by  the  way,  he  was  arrested." 

Von  Belke  started  violently. 

"So!"  he  cried.  "Then — then  you  never 
were  Tiel?" 

"I  am  thankful  to  say  I  never  was,  for  a 
more  complete  scoundrel  never  existed.  He 
and  his  friend  Schumann  actually  did  knock 
Mr.  Burnett  on  the  head,  tie  a  stone  to  his  feet, 
and  pitch  him  over  the  cUif.  Unfortunately 
for  them,  they  made  a  bad  job  of  the  knot  and 
the  stone  came  loose.  In  consequence,  Mr. 
Burnett  floated  long  enough  to  be  picked  up 
by  a  patrol  boat,  which  had  seen  the  whole 
performance  outhned  against  the  sky  at  the 
top  of  the  cliff  above  her.  By  the  time  they 
had  brought  him  back  to  a  certain  base,  Mr. 
Burnett  had  revived  and  was  able  to  tell  of  his 
adventure.  The  affair  being  in  my  line,  was 
put  into  my  hands,  and  it  didn't  take  long  to 
see  what  the  rascals'  game  was." 


TIEL'S  JOURNEY  279 

"No,"  commented  Phipps;  "I  suppose  you 
spotted  that  pretty  quick." 

"Practically  at  once.  A  clergyman  on  his 
way  here — clothes  and  passport  stolen — left 
for  murdered — chauffeur  so  like  him  that  the 
minister  noticed  the  resemblance  himself  in  the 
instant  the  man  was  knocking  him  down, — 
what  was  the  inference?  Pretty  obvious, 
you'll  agree.  Well,  the  first  step  was  simple. 
The  pair  had  separated;  but  we  got  Tiel  at 
Inverness  on  his  way  North,  and  Schumann 
within  twenty-four  hours  afterwards  at  Liver- 
pool." 

"Good  business!"  said  Phipps.  "I  hadn't 
heard  about  Schumann  before." 

"Well,"  continued  Blacklock,  "I  inter- 
viewed Mr.  Tiel,  and  I  found  I'd  struck  just 
about  the  worst  thing  in  the  way  of  rascals  it 
has  ever  been  my  luck  to  run  up  against.  He 
began  to  bargain  at  once.  If  his  life  was 
spared  he  would  give  me  certain  very  valuable 
inform.ation." 

"Mein  Gott !"  cried  Belke.  "Did  a  German 
actually  say  that?" 

"Tiel  belongs  to  no  country,"  said  Black- 
lock.     "He  is  a  cosmopolitan  adventurer  with- 


280  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

out  patriotism  or  morals.  I  told  him  his  skin 
would  be  safe  if  his  information  really  proved 
valuable;  and  when  I  heard  his  story,  I  may 
say  that  he  did  save  his  skin.  He  gave  the 
whole  show  away,  down  to  the  passwords  that 
were  to  pass  between  you  when  you  met." 

He  suddenly  turned  to  Phipps  and  smiled. 

"It's  curious  how  the  idea  came  to  me.  I've 
done  a  good  bit  of  secret  service  work  myself, 
and  felt  in  such  a  funk  sometimes  that  I've 
realised  the  temptation  to  give  the  show  away 
if  I  were  nailed.  Well,  as  I  looked  at  Tiel,  I 
said  to  myself,  'There,  but  for  the  grace  of 
God,  stands  Robin  Blacklock!'  And  then 
suddenly  it  flashed  into  my  mind  that  we  were 
really  not  at  all  unlike  one  another — same 
height,  and  tin-opener  nose,  and  a  few  streaks 
of  anno  domini  in  our  hair,  and  so  on." 

"I  know,  old  thing,"  said  his  friend,  "it's  the 
wife-poisoning  type.  You  see  'em  by  the 
dozen  in  the  Chamber  of  Horrors." 

Their  Teutonic  captive  seemed  to  wax  a  lit- 
tle impatient. 

"What  happened  then?"  he  demanded. 

"What  happened  was  that  I  decided  to  con- 
tinue Mr.  Tiel's  journey  for  him.     The  arrest 


TIEL'S  JOURNEY  281 

and  so  on  had  lost  a  day,  but  I  knew  that  the 
night  of  your  arrival  was  left  open,  and  I  had 
to  risk  it.  That  splash  of  salt  water  on  your 
motor  bike,  and  your  resource  in  dodging  pur- 
suit, just  saved  the  situation,  and  we  arrived  at 
the  house  on  the  same  night." 

"So  that  was  why  you  were  late!"  exclaimed 
von  Belke.  "Fool  that  I  was  not  to  have  ques- 
tioned and  suspected!" 

"It  might  have  been  rather  a  nasty  bunker," 
admitted  Blacklock,  "but  luckily  I  got  you  to 
lose  your  temper  with  me  when  I  reached  that 
delicate  part  of  my  story,  and  you  forgot  to 
ask  me." 

"You  always  were  a  tactful  fellow,  Robin," 
murmured  Phipps. 

"Of  course,"  resumed  Blacklock,  "I  was  in 
touch  with  certain  people  who  advised  me  what 
scheme  to  recommend.  My  only  suggestion 
was  that  the  officer  sent  to  advise  us  profes- 
sionally should  be  one  whose  appearance  might 
lead  those  who  did  not  know  him  to  suspect 
him  capable  of  treasonable  inclinations.  My 
old  friend,  Captain  Phipps " 

"Robin!"  roared  his  old  friend,  "I  read  your 
bloomin'  message.     You  asked  for  the  best- 


282  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

looking  officer  on  the  staff,  and  the  one  with 
the  nicest  manners.     Get  on  with  your  story!" 

These  interludes  seemed  to  perplex  their 
captive  considerably. 

"You  got  a  pretended  traitor?  I  see,"  he 
said  gravely. 

"Exactly.  I  tried  you  first  with  Ashington 
of  the  Haileyhury — whom  I  slandered  grossly 
by  the  way.  If  you  had  happened  to  know 
him  by  sight  I  should  have  passed  on  to  an- 
other captain,  till  I  got  one  you  didn't  know. 
Well,  I  needn't  recall  what  happened  at  our 
council  of  war,  but  now  we  come  to  rather 

a "  he  hesitated  and  glanced  for  an  instant 

at  Miss  Holland, — "well,  rather  a  delicate 
point  in  the  story.  I  think  it's  only  fair  to 
those  concerned  to  tell  you  pretty  fully  what 
happened.  I  believe  I  am  right  in  thinking 
that  they  would  like  me  to  do  so." 

Again  he  glanced  at  the  girl,  and  this  time 
she  gave  a  little  assenting  nod. 

"That  night,  after  you  left  us,  Mr.  Belke, 
Captain  Phipps  and  I  had  a  long  discussion 
over  a  very  knotty  point.  How  were  we  to 
get  you  back  again  here  after  you  had  deliv- 
ered your  message  to  your  submarine?" 


TIEL'S  JOURNEY  283 

"I  do  not  see  exactly  why  you  wished  me  to 
return?"  said  von  Belke. 

"There  were  at  least  three  vital  reasons. 
In  the  first  place  some  one  you  spoke  to  might 
have  known  too  much  about  Tiel  and  have 
spotted  the  fraud.  Then  again,  some  one 
might  easily  have  known  the  real  Captain  Ash- 
ington,  and  it  would  be  a  little  difficult  to 
describe  Captain  Phipps  in  such  a  way  as  to 
confoimd  him  with  any  one  else.  Finally,  we 
wished  to  extract  a  little  more  information 
from  you." 

Von  Belke  leapt  from  his  seat  with  an  ex- 
clamation. 

"What  have  I  not  told  you!"  he  cried 
hoarsely.  "Mein  Gott,  I  had  forgotten  that! 
Give  me  that  pistol!  Come,  give  it  to  me! 
Why  keep  me  alive?" 

'T  suppose  because  it  is  an  English  cus- 
tom," replied  Commander  Blacklock  quietly. 
"Also,  you  will  be  exceedingly  glad  some 
day  to  find  yourself  still  alive.  Please 
sit  down  and  listen.  I  am  anxious  to 
explain  this  point  fully,  for  a  very  good 
reason." 

With  a  groan  their  captive  sat  down,  but 


284.  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

with  his  head  held  now  between  his  hands  and 
his  eyes  cast  upon  the  floor. 

"We  agreed  that  at  all  costs  this  must  be 
managed,  and  so  I  tried  my  hand  at  exercising 
my  authority  over  you.  I  saw  that  was  going 
to  be  no  good,  and  gave  it  up  at  once  for  fear 
you'd  smell  a  rat.  And  then  I  thought  of 
Miss  Holland." 

Von  Belke  looked  up  suddenly. 

"Ah!"  he  cried,  "so  that  is  why  this  lady  ap- 
peared— this  lady  I  may  not  call  a  decoy!" 

"That  is  why,"  said  Blacklock. 


II 

THE  LADY 

LIEUTENANT  VON  BELKE  looked 
for  a  moment  at  the  lady  who  had  en- 
slaved him,  but  for  some  reason  he  averted  his 
gaze  rather  quickly.  Then  with  an  elaborate 
affectation  of  sarcastic  poHteness  which  served 
but  ill  to  conceal  the  pain  at  his  heart  and  the 
shock  to  his  pride,  he  inquired — 

"May  I  be  permitted  to  ask  what  agency 
supplies  ladies  so  accomplished  at  a  notice  so 
brief?" 

"Providence,"  said  Blacklock  promptly  and 
simply.  "Miss  Holland  had  never  undertaken 
any  such  work  before,  and  her  name  is  on  the 
books  of  no  bureau." 

"I  believe  you  entirely,"  said  von  Belke 
ironically.  "You  taught  her  her  trade  then, 
I  presume?" 

"I  did." 

The  German  stared  at  him. 

285 


286  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

**Is  there  really  any  need  to  deceive  me  fur- 
ther?" he  inquired. 

"I  am  telling  you  the  simple  truth,"  said 
Blacklock  unruffled.  "I  had  the  great  good 
fortune  to  make  Miss  Holland's  acquaintance 
on  the  mail-boat  crossing  to  these  islands.  She 
was  going  to  visit  Mr.  Craigie — that  intellec- 
tual gentleman  you  met  yesterday — under  the 
precise  circumstances  he  described.  I  noticed 
Miss  Holland  the  moment  she  came  aboard 
the  boat."  He  paused  for  a  moment,  and 
then  turned  to  Eileen  with  a  smile.  "I  have 
a  confession  to  make  to  you,  IVIiss  Holland, 
which  I  may  as  well  get  off  my  chest  now.  My 
mind,  naturally  enough  perhaps,  was  rather 
running  on  spies,  and  when  I  discovered  that 
you  were  travelling  with  a  suit-case  of  German 
manufacture  I  had  a  few  minutes'  grave  sus- 
picion.    I  now  apologise." 

Eileen  laughed. 

"Only  a  few  minutes!"  she  exclaimed.  "It 
seems  to  me  I  got  off  very  easily !" 

"That  was  why  I  was  somewhat  persistent 
in  my  conversation,"  he  continued,  still  smil- 
ing a  little,  "but  it  quickly  served  the  purpose 
of  satisfying  me  absolutely  that  my  guns  were 


THE  LADY  287 

on  the  wrong  target.  And  so  I  promptly  re- 
lieved you  of  my  conversation." 

He  turned  again  to  von  Belke. 

"Then,  Mr.  Belke,  a  very  curious  thing  hap- 
pened, which  one  of  us  may  perhaps  be  par- 
doned for  thinking  diabolical  and  the  other 
providential.  Miss  Holland  happened  to  have 
met  the  real  JNIr.  Burnett  and  bowled  me  out. 
And  then  I  had  another  lucky  inspiration.  If 
Miss  Holland  will  pardon  me  for  saying  so  in 
her  presence,  I  had  already  been  struck  with 
the  fact  that  she  was  a  young  lady  of  very  ex- 
ceptional looks  and  brains  and  character — and, 
moreover,  she  knew  Germany  and  she  knew 
German.  It  occurred  to  me  that  in  dealing 
with  a  young  and  probably  not  unimpression- 
able man  such  an  ally  might  conceivably  come 
in  useful." 

"Robin,"  interrupted  his  old  friend,  with  his 
rich  laugh,  "you  are  the  coldest-blooded  brute 
I  ever  met !" 

"To  plot  against  a  man  like  that!"  agreed 
von  Belke  with  bitter  emphasis. 

"Oh,  I  wasn't  thinking  of  you,"  said  Cap- 
tain Phipps,  with  a  gallant  glance  at  the  lady. 
"However,  on  you  go  with  your  yarn." 


288  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

*'Well,  I  decided  on  the  spot  to  take  Miss 
Holland  into  my  confidence — and  I  should  like 
to  say  that  confidence  was  never  better  justi- 
fied. She  seemed  inclined  to  do  what  she  could 
for  her  country."  Commander  Blacklock 
paused  for  an  instant,  and  added  apologet- 
ically, "I  am  putting  it  very  mildly  and  very 
badly,  but  you  know  what  I  mean.  She  was, 
in  fact,  ready  to  do  anything  I  asked  her  on 
receipt  of  a  summons  from  me.  I  had  thought 
of  her  even  when  talking  to  Captain  Phipps, 
but  I  felt  a  little  reluctant  to  involve  her  in  the 
business,  with  all  it  entailed,  unless  no  other 
course  remained  open.  And  no  other  course 
was  open.  And  so  I  first  telegraphed  to  her 
and  then  went  over  and  fetched  her.  That 
was  how  she  came  to  play  the  part  she  did, 
entirely  at  my  request  and  instigation.'* 

"You — you  then  told  her  to — to  make  me 
admire  her?"  asked  von  Belke  in  an  unsteady 
voice. 

"Frankly  I  did.  Of  course  it  was  not  for 
me  to  teach  a  lady  how  to  be  attractive,  but  I 
may  say  that  we  rehearsed  several  of  the  scenes 
very  carefully  indeed, — I  mean  in  connection 
with  such  matters  as  the  things  you  should  say 


THE  LADY  289 

to  Commander  Wiedermann,  and  so  on.  Miss 
Holland  placed  herself  under  my  orders,  and 
I  simply  told  her  what  to  say.  She  was  in  no 
sense  to  blame." 

"Blame!"  cried  Captain  Phipps.  "She  de- 
serves all  the  decorations  going!" 

"I  was  trying  to  look  at  it  from  Mr.  Belke's 
point  of  view,"  said  Blacklock,  "as  I  think 
Miss  Holland  probabty  desires." 

She  gave  him  a  quick,  grateful  look,  and  he 
continued — 

"It  was  I  who  suggested  that  she  should  ap- 
pear critical  of  me,  and  endeavour,  as  it  were, 
to  divide  our  household  into  two  camps,  so 
that  you  should  feel  you  were  acting  against 
me  when  you  were  actually  doing  what  I 
wished.  I  tell  you  this  frankly  so  that  you 
may  see  who  was  responsible  for  the  deceit  that 
we  were  forced  to  practise." 

"Forced!"  cried  the  young  lieutenant  bit- 
terly. "Who  forced  you  to  use  a  woman? 
Could  you  not  have  deceived  me  alone?" 

"No,"  said  Blacklock  candidly,  "I  couldn't, 
or  I  should  not  have  sent  for  Miss  Holland. 
It  was  an  extremely  difficult  problem  to  get 
you  to  risk  your  life,  and  stand  out  against 


290  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

your  commanding  officer's  wishes  and  your  own 
inclinations  and  your  apparent  duty,  and  come 
back  to  this  house  after  the  whole  plan  was 
arranged  and  every  argument  seemed  to  be  in 
favour  of  your  going  aboard  your  boat  again. 
Nobody  but  a  man  under  the  influence  of  a 
woman  would  have  taken  such  a  course. 
Those  were  the  facts  I  had  to  face,  and — well, 
the  thing  came  off,  thanks  entirely  to  Miss 
Holland.  I  have  apologised  to  her  twenty 
times  already  for  making  such  a  use  of  her, 
and  I  apologise  again." 

Suddenly  the  young  German  broke  out. 

"Ah!     But  were  there  not  consolations?" 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"You  and  Miss  Holland  living  by  your- 
selves in  this  house — is  it  that  you  need  apolo- 
gise for?" 

"Miss  Holland  never  spent  a  single  night 
under  this  roof,"  said  Blacklock  quietly. 

"Not — not  a  night,"  stammered  von  Belke. 
"Then  where ?" 

"She  stayed  at  a  house  in  the  neighbour- 
hood." 

The  lieutenant  seemed  incapable  of  com- 
ment, and  Captain  Phipps  observed  genially. 


THE  LADY  291 

''There  seem  to  have  been  some  rum  goings- 
on  behind  your  back,  Mr.  Belke!" 

Von  Belke  seemed  to  be  realising  this  fact 
himself,  and  resenting  it. 

"You  seem  to  have  amused  yourself  very 
much  by  deceiving  me,"  he  remarked. 

*'I  assure  you  I  did  nothing  for  fun,"  said 
Blacklock  gravely,  yet  with  a  twinkle  in  his 
eye.     "It  was  all  in  the  way  of  business." 

"The  story  that  you  preached,  for  in- 
stance!" 

"Would  you  have  felt  quite  happy  if  I  had 
told  you  I  had  omitted  to  do  the  one  thing  I 
had  professed  to  come  here  for?" 

Von  Belke  gave  a  little  sound  that  might 
have  meant  anything.     Then  he  exclaimed — 

"But  your  servant  who  was  not  supposed  to 
know  anything — that  was  to  annoy  me,  I  sup- 
pose!" 

"To  isolate  you.  I  didn't  want  you  to  speak 
to  a  soul  but  me." 

The  captive  sat  silent  for  a  moment,  and 
then  said — 

"You  had  the  house  watched  by  the  police — 
I  see  that  now." 

"A  compliment  to  you,  Mr.  Belke,"  smiled 


292  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

the  Commander;  and  then  he  added,  "You 
gave  me  one  or  two  anxious  moments,  I  may 
tell  you.  Your  demand  for  mufti  necessi- 
tated a  very  hurried  interview  with  the  com- 
mander of  a  destroyer,  and  old  Craigie's  visit 
very  nearly  upset  the  apple-cart.  I  had  to 
tell  him  pretty  nearly  the  whole  truth  when 
I  got  him  outside.  But  those  incidents  came 
after  the  chief  crisis  was  over.  The  nearest 
squeak  was  when  I  thought  you  were  safely 
engaged  with  Miss  Holland,  and  a  certain  of- 
ficer was  calling  on  me,  who  was  not  Captain 
Phipps.  In  fact,  he  was  an  even  more  exalted 
person.  Miss  Holland  saved  the  situation  by 
crying  out  that  you  were  coming,  or  I'm  afraid 
that  would  have  been  the  end  of  the  submarine 
attack." 

"So?"  said  the  young  German  slowly  and 
with  a  very  wry  face,  and  then  he  turned  to 
Eileen.  "Then,  Miss  Holland,  every  time  you 
did  me  the  honour  to  appear  kind  and  visit 
me  you  were  carrying  out  one  of  this  gentle- 
man's plans?  And  every  word  you  spoke  was 
said  to  entangle  me  in  your  net,  or  to  keep  me 
quiet  while  something  was  being  done  behind 
my  back?     I  hope  that  some  day  you  may 


THE  LADY  293 

enjoy  the  recollection  as  much  as  I  am  enjoy- 
ing it  now!" 

"Mr.  Belke,"  she  cried,  "I  am  very  deeply 
sorry  for  treating  even  an  enemy  as  I  treated 

you!" 

She  spoke  so  sincerely  and  with  so  much 
emotion  that  even  Captain  Phipps  assumed  a 
certain  solemn  expression,  which  was  tradition- 
ally never  seen  on  his  face  except  when  the 
Chaplain  was  actually  officiating,  and  jump- 
ing up  she  came  a  step  towards  the  prisoner. 
There  she  stood,  a  graceful  and  beautiful  fig- 
ure, her  eyes  glowing  with  fervour. 

"All  I  can  say  for  myself,  and  all  I  can  ask 
you  to  think  of  when  your  recollections  of  me 
pain  you,  is  only  this — if  you  had  a  sister, 
would  you  have  had  her  hesitate  to  do  one 
single  thing  I  did  in  order  to  defeat  her  coun- 
try's enemies?" 

Von  Belke  looked  at  her  for  a  moment  with 
frowning  brow  and  folded  arms.  Then  all  he 
said  was — 

"Germany's  cause  is  sacred!" 

Her  eyes  opened  very  wide. 

"Then  what  is  right  for  Germany  is  wrong 
for  her  enemies?" 


294  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

"Naturally.  How  can  Germany  both  be 
right — as  she  is,  and  yet  be  wrong?" 

*'I — I  don't  think  you  quite  understand  what 
I  mean,"  she  said  with  a  puzzled  look. 

"Germany  never  will,"  said  Blacklock 
quietly.     "That  is  whj''  we  are  at  war." 

A  tramp  of  footsteps  sounded  on  the  gravel 
outside,  and  Captain  Phipps  sprang  up. 

"Your  guard  has  come  for  you,  Mr.  Belke," 
he  said.  "I'm  sorry  to  interrupt  this  conver- 
sation, but  I'm  afraid  you  must  be  moving." 


Ill 

THE  EMPTY   ENVELOPE 

COMMANDER  BLACKLOCK  closed 
the  front  door. 

"Chilly  night,"  he  observed. 

"It  is  rather,"  said  Eileen. 

The  wind  droned  through  a  distant  keyhole 
mournfully  and  continuously.  That  melan- 
choly piping  sound  never  rose  and  never  fell; 
monotonous  and  unvarying  it  piped  on  and  on. 
Otherwise  the  house  had  that  peculiar  feeling 
of  quiet  which  houses  have  when  stirring  events 
are  over  and  people  have  departed. 

The  two  remaining  inhabitants  re-entered 
the  parlour,  glanced  at  one  another  with  a  half 
smile,  and  then  seemed  simultaneously  to  find 
a  little  difficulty  in  knowing  what  to  do  next. 

"Well,"  said  Blacklock,  "our  business  seems 
over." 

He  felt  he  had  spoken  a  little  more  abruptly 
than  he  intended,  and  would  have  liked  to  re- 

295 


296  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

peat  his  observations  in  a  more  genial  tone. 

"Yes,"  said  she  almost  as  casually,  "there  is 
nothing  more  to  be  done  to-night,  I  suppose." 

"I  shall  have  to  write  up  my  report  of  our 
friend  Mr.  Belke's  life  and  last  words,"  said 
he  with  a  half  laugh. 

"And  I  have  got  to  get  over  to  Mrs. 
Brown's,"  she  replied,  "and  so  I  had  better  go 
at  once." 

"Oh,  there's  no  such  desperate  hurry,"  he 
said  hastily;  "I  haven't  much  to  write  up  to- 
night.    We  must  have  some  supper  first." 

"Yes,"  she  agreed,  "I  suppose  we  shall  be- 
gin to  feel  hungry  soon  if  we  don't.  I'll  see 
about  it.     What  would  you  like?" 

"The  cold  ham  and  a  couple  of  boiled  eggs 
will  suit  me." 

She  agreed  again. 

"That  won't  take  long,  and  then  you  can 
begin  your  report." 

Again  he  protested  hastily. 

"Oh,  but  there's  no  hurry  about  that,  I  as- 
sure you.     I  only  wanted  to  save  trouble." 

While  she  was  away  he  stood  before  the 
fire,  gazing  absently  into  space  and  scarcely 


THE  EMPTY  ENVELOPE  297 

moving  a  muscle.  The  ham  and  boiled  eggs 
appeared,  and  a  little  more  animation  became 
apparent,  but  it  was  not  a  lively  feast.  She 
talked  for  a  little  in  an  ordinary,  cheerful  way, 
just  as  though  there  was  no  very  special  sub- 
ject for  conversation;  but  he  seemed  too  absent- 
minded  and  silent  to  respond  even  to  these  over- 
tures, except  with  a  brief  smile  and  a  briefer 
word.  They  had  both  been  quite  silent  for 
about  five  minutes,  when  he  suddenly  said  in 
a  constrained  manner,  but  with  quite  a  differ- 
ent intonation — 

"Well,  I  am  afraid  our  ways  part  now. 
What  are  you  going  to  do  next?" 

"I've  been  wondering,"  she  said;  "and  I 
think  if  Mrs.  Craigie  still  wants  me  I  ought 
to  go  back  to  her." 

"Back  to  the  Craigies!"  he  exclaimed. 
"And  become — er — a  governess  again?" 

"It  will  be  rather  dull  at  first,"  she  laughed ; 
"but  one  can't  have  such  adventures  as  this 
every  day,  and  I  really  have  treated  the  Crai- 
gies rather  badly.  You  see  you  told  INIr. 
Craigie  the  trutli  about  my  desertion  of  them, 
and  they  may  forgive  me.     If  they  do,  and 


298  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

if  they  still  need  me,  I  feel  I  simply  must  offer 
my  services." 

"It's  very  good  of  you." 

She  laughed  again. 

"It  is  at  least  as  much  for  my  own  interest 
as  Mrs.  Craigie's.  I  have  nowhere  else  to  go 
to  and  nothing  else  to  do." 

"I  wish  I  could  offer  you  another  job  like 
this,"  said  he. 

A  sparkle  leapt  into  her  eyes. 

*'If  you  ever  do  see  any  chance  of  making 
any  sort  of  use  of  me — I  mean  of  letting  me 
be  useful — you  will  be  sure  to  let  me  know, 
won't  you?" 

"Rather!  But  honestly,  I'm  not  likely  to 
have  such  a  bit  of  luck  as  this  again." 

"What  will  you  be  doing?" 

"Whatever  I'm  told  to  do;  the  sort  of  thing 
I  was  on  before — odd  jobs  of  the  'hush'  type. 
But  I  wish  I  could  think  of  you  doing  some- 
thing more — well,  more  worthy  of  your  gifts.'* 

"One  must  take  one's  luck  as  it  comes,"  she 
said  with  an  outward  air  of  philosophy,  what- 
ever her  heart  whispered. 

"Exactly,"  he  agreed  with  emphasis. 
"Still '' 


THE  EMPTY  ENVELOPE  299 

He  broke  off,  and  pulled  a  pipe  out  of  his 
pocket. 

"I'll  leave  you  to  smoke,"  she  said,  "and 
say  good-night  now." 

"One  moment!"  said  he,  jumping  up; 
"there's  something  I  feel  I  must  say.  I've 
been  rather  contrite  about  it.  I'm  afraid  I 
haven't  quite  played  cricket  so  far  as  you  are 
concerned." 

She  looked  at  him  quickly. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  she  asked. 

"It's  about  Belke.  I'm  afraid  Phipps  was 
quite  right  in  saying  I'm  rather  cold-blooded 
when  I  am  keen  over  a  job.  Perhaps  it  be- 
comes a  little  too  much  of  a  mere  problem. 
Getting  you  to  treat  Belke  as  you  did,  for  in- 
stance. You  were  very  nice  to  him  to-night — 
though  he  was  too  German  to  understand  how 
you  felt — and  it  struck  me  that  very  possibly 
you  had  been  seeing  a  great  deal  of  him,  and 
he's  a  nice-looking  fellow,  with  a  lot  of  good 
stuff  in  him,  a  brave  man,  no  doubt  about  it, 
and — well,  perhaps  you  liked  him  enough  to 
make  you  wish  I  hadn't  let  you  in  for  such  a 
job.     I  just  wondered." 

She  looked  at  him  for  an  instant  with  an 


300  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

expression  he  did  not  quite  understand;  then 
she  looked  away  and  seemed  for  a  moment  a 
little  embarrassed,  and  then  she  looked  at  him 
again,  and  he  thought  he  had  never  seen 
franker  eyes. 

"You're  as  kind  and  considerate  as — as,  well, 
as  you're  clever!"  she  said  with  a  half  laugh. 
"But,  if  you  only  knew,  if  j^ou  only  even  had 
the  least  guess  how  I've  longed  to  do  some- 
thing for  my  country — something  really  use- 
ful, I  mean;  how  unutterably  wretched  I  felt 
when  the  trifling  work  I  was  doing  was  stopped 
by  a  miserable  neglected  cold  and  I  had  to  have 
a  change,  and  as  I'd  no  money  I  had  to  take 
this  stupid  job  of  teaching;  and  how  I  envied 
the  women  who  were  more  fortunate  and  really 
ticere  doing  useful  things ;  oh,  then  you'd  know 
how  grateful  I  feel  to  you!  If  I  could  make 
every  officer  in  the  German  navy — and  the 
army  too — fall  in  love  with  me,  and  then  hand 
them  over  to  you,  I'd  do  it  fifty  times  over! 
Don't,  please,  talk  nonsense,  or  think  non- 
sense! Good-night,  Mr.  Tiel,  and  perhaps  it's 
good-bye." 

She  laughed  as  she  gave  him  his  nom-de- 
guerre,  and  held  out  her  hand  as  frankly  as 


THE  EMPTY  ENVELOPE  301 

she  had  spoken.     He  did  not  take  it,  however. 

"I'm  going  to  escort  you  over  to  Mrs. 
Brown's,"  he  said  with  a  very  different  ex- 
pression now  in  his  eyes. 

"It's  very  good  of  you,"  she  said;  "yo^^  ^^^ 
sure  you  have  time?" 

"Loads!"  he  assured  her. 

He  opened  the  door  for  her,  but  she  stopped 
on  the  threshold.  A  young  woman  was  wait- 
ing in  the  hall. 

"Mrs.  Brown  has  sent  her  girl  to  escort  me," 
she  said,  "so  we'll  have  to" — she  corrected  her- 
self— "we  must  say  good-night  now.  Is  it 
good-bye,  or  shall  I  see  you  in  the  morning?" 

His  face  had  become  very  long  again. 

"I'm  very  much  afraid  not.  I've  got  to  re- 
port myself  with  the  lark.     Good-bye." 

The  front  door  closed  behind  her,  and  Com- 
mander Blacklock  strode  back  to  the  fire  and 
gazed  at  it  for  some  moments. 

"Well,"  he  said  to  himself,  "I  suppose,  look- 
ing at  things  as  they  ought  to  be  looked  at, 
Mrs.  Bro\\Ti's  girl  has  saved  me  from  making 
a  damned  fool  of  myself !  Now  to  work :  that's 
my  proper  stunt." 

He  threw  some  sheets  of  foolscap  on  the 


302  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

table,  took  out  his  pen,  and  sat  down  to  his 
work.  For  about  five  minutes  he  stared  at 
the  foolscap,  but  the  pen  never  made  a  move- 
ment. Then  abruptly  he  jumped  up  and  ex- 
claimed— 

"Dash  it,  I  must!" 

Snatching  up  an  envelope,  he  thrust  it  in  his 
pocket,  and  a  moment  later  was  out  of  the 

house. 

****** 

Miss  Holland  and  her  escort  were  about  fifty 
yards  from  Mrs.  Brown's  house  when  the  girl 
started  and  looked  back. 

"There's  some  one  crying  on  you!"  she  ex- 
claimed. 

Eileen  stopped  and  peered  back  into  the 
night.  It  had  clouded  over  and  was  very  dark. 
Very  vaguely  something  seemed  to  loom  up 
in  the  path  behind  them. 

"Miss  Holland!"  cried  a  voice. 

"It's  the  minister!"  said  the  girl. 

"The — who?"  exclaimed  Eileen;  and  added 
hastily,  "Oh,  yes,  I  know  who  you  mean." 

A  tall  figure  disengaged  itself  from  the  sur- 
rounding night. 

"Sorry  to  trouble  you,"  said  the  voice  in  curi- 


THE  EMPTY  ENVELOPE  303 

ously  quick  and  jerky  accents,  "but  I've  got 
a  note  I  want  this  girl  to  deliver  immediately." 

He  handed  her  an  envelope. 

"Hand  that  in  at  the  first  farm  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Manse,"  he  commanded,  pointing 
backwards  into  the  darkness.  "I'll  escort  Miss 
Holland." 

"Which  hoose "  began  the  girl. 

"The  first  you  come  to!"  said  the  Comman- 
der peremptorily.     "Quick  as  you  can!" 

Then  he  looked  at  Eileen,  and  for  a  mo- 
ment said  nothing. 

"What's  the  matter?"  she  asked  anxiously. 
"Has  anything  gone  wrong?" 

"Yes,"  he  said  with  a  half  laugh,  "I  have. 
I  even  forgot  to  lick  down  that  envelope. 
How  the  deuce  I'm  to  explain  an  empty,  un- 
addressed,  unfastened  envelope  the  Lord  only 
knows!"  His  manner  suddenly  changed  and 
he  asked  abruptly,  "Are  you  in  a  desperate 
hurry  to  get  in?  I've  something  to  say  to 
you." 

He  paused  and  looked  at  her,  but  she  said 
not  a  word  in  reply,  not  even  to  inquire  what 
it  was.     A  little  jerkily  he  proceeded — 

"I'm  probably  making  just  as  great  a  fool 


304»  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

of  myself  as  Belke.  But  I  couldn't  let  you  go 
without  asking — well,  whether  I  am  merely 
making  a  fool  of  myself.  If  you  know  what 
I  mean  and  think  I  am,  well,  please  just  tell 
me  you  can  manage  to  see  3'^ourself  safely  home 
— I  know  it's  only  about  fifty  yards — and  I'll 
go  and  get  that  wretched  envelope  back  from 
the  girl  and  tell  her  another  lie." 

"Why  should  I  think  you  are  making  a 
fool  of  yourself?"  she  asked  in  a  voice  that 
was  very  quiet,  but  not  quite  as  even  as  she 
meant. 

"Let's  turn  back  a  little  way,"  he  suggested 
quickly. 

She  said  nothing,  but  she  turned. 

"Take  my  arm,  won't  you,"  he  suggested. 

In  the  bitterness  of  his  heart  he  was  con- 
scious that  he  had  rapped  out  this  proposal  in 
his  sharpest  quarter-deck  manner.  And  he 
had  meant  to  speak  so  gently!  Yet  she  took 
his  arm,  a  little  timidly  it  is  true,  but  no  won- 
der, thought  he.  For  a  few  moments  they 
walked  in  silence,  falling  slower  and  slower 
with  each  step;  and  then  they  stopped.  At 
that,  speech  seemed  to  be  jerked  out  of  him 
at  last. 


THE  EMPTY  ENVELOPE  305 

"I  wonder  if  it's  conceivable  that  you'd  ever 
look  upon  me  as  anything  but  a  calculating 
machine?"  he  inquired. 

"I  never  thought  of  you  in  the  least  as  that!'* 
she  exclaimed. 

The  gallant  Commander  evidently  regarded 
this  as  a  charitable  exaggeration.  He  shook 
his  head. 

"You  must  sometimes.  I  know  I  must  have 
seemed  that  sort  of  person." 

"Not  to  me,"  she  said. 

He  seemed  encouraged,  but  still  a  little  in- 
credulous. 

"Then  did  you  ever  really  think  of  me  as 
a  human  being — as  a — as  a — "  he  hesitated 
painfully — "as  a  friend?" 

"Yes,"  she  said,  "of  course  I  did— always  as 
a  friend." 

"Could  you  possibly — conceivably — think  of 
me  as" — he  hesitated,  and  then  blurted  out — 
"as,  dash  it  all,  head  over  ears  in  love  with 
you?" 

And  then  suddenly  the  Commander  realised 
that  he  had  not  made  a  fool  of  himself  after  all. 

The  empty  envelope  was  duly  delivered,  but 
no  explanation  was  required.     Mrs.  Brown's 


606  THE  SPY  IN  BLACK 

girl  supplied  all  the  information  necessary. 
"Of  course  I  knew  fine  what  he  was  after," 
said  she. 


THE  END 


P^; 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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